Hunted Secrets
by Trisha23
Summary: It's true that everybody has secrets, sometimes those secrets are bigger than others, specially if you are a well known and respected anthropologist working at the Jeffersonian, secrets had something in common: they come to light. rr -fic tmb en español-
1. Chapter 1

**Hunted Secrets**

_Complete summary:_

It is true that everybody has secrets, and sometimes those secrets are bigger than others, specially when you are a well known and respected anthropologist working at the Jeffersonian; but secrets had a very particular characteristic, they come out to light sooner or later. Pairings: Booth and Brennan, Hodgins and Angela, Zach and girlfriend.

_**One: Opening a scar.**_

It was a day that seemed like any other at the Jeffersonian, with its usual staff, according to Angela's opinion. Hodgins and Zack were working on a new experiment, Bones was locked up in her office again; she's been doing it very often during the last six months, probably because of her pregnancy. So that left her with no one to talk to and it was really boring.

"Maybe I should check what Tempe's doing," Angela told herself, "that's a good idea and I might even convince her on having a baby shower." She stood up with difficulty and head toward Bones office.

In her office, Dr. Brennan was working on her laptop, completely immerse on her thoughts. She was thinking about the one big secret she had been keeping for so many years from everybody and even her now husband. The very one that it's been hunting her for years and now, ever since she found out she was pregnant, again, her past began to torment her even more. That baby girl that she once gave up to, came back fully to her mind, and since that moment she has been working and doing everything to try and locate her. Although there were so many new ways to track a missing person and technology to help her, she hadn't been able to find her daughter.

"Hey, sweetie!" Angela greeted entering Bones office, "What are you doing locked in this office on such a lovely day..." she was smiling but her frown changed to a concern one "hang on, you don't look pretty well, are you ok?"

"Oh, hi Angela, there's nothing, I'm fine, really, thank you." Bones quickly turned to face Angela while closing her laptop and hidding some notes that were spread on her desk.

"Are you sure? 'Cause, if you want, I can call Booth for you," Angela insisted.

"No it's ok. I absolutely feel fine, don't worry." Bones told her trying to sound calm and pressing assuredness on her tone.

Angela decided to give it up and try on a different moment. "Well, if you insist," then, an idea came to her mind, "What'll you think if the five of us, get out of this cold boring office and pick up something to eat and take a nice walk on the park. I'm sure it'll suit us great." She said grinning and rubbing her belly.

"I'm not sure Ange," Brennan hesitated, "There are so many things I need to do and..."

"Nonsense, you need to get out of here once in a while, get some fresh air," Angela said, "and definitely this little two will enjoy it too." she added rubbing Bones round belly.

They went to a cozy little restaurant and after having a nice meal, went for an ice cream cone and sat on a bench in the park to talk peacefully.

"How is everything going with you and Hodgins?" Bones asked Angela trying to avoid her questionings about the secret research in which she'd spent so much time lately.

"Great, he is so wonderful. Let me tell you something, he even start taking pre natal yoga lessons with me. He looks so cute struggling to do all the postures and everything," Angela was almost laughing and every time somebody asked her about him, a bright spark was visible in her eyes, "you and Booth should try it too. It's a wonderful experience and it'll help you during labour you know? Besides, it's a good way to spend some time with your man doing something different from the ordinary.

"I'll think about it; but anyway, I don't think Booth's going to like it," when she was saying this she was thinking that it was very funny seeing Angela like this, she loved Seeley with all her heart, but she was sure that that sparkling thing doesn't happened to her, she was thinking this when Angela pull her out of her thoughts.

"You know, you have this cute and sweet sparkle in your eyes every time you think of Booth, and when you first found out you were pregnant, it was like if you could almost shine, I think I even hear Booth telling Zack about you glowing." Angela said smiling widely.

"Oh my God, you're kidding me right? I was thinking the same thing about you. That happens to you when you talk about Hodgins," Bones couldn't believe it.

"Really? Am I that obvious? It's just that I really love him," Angela said dreamingly while rubbing her belly "and this little one is another proof of our love."

"I was thinking of the physical and chemical reasons for that and..."

"Sweetie, don't question it or tried to explain it, it's just love," Angela smiled at her but changed her frown to a more serious one and said, "what I was about to ask you was that..."

"Oh my God, look at the time, it's very late. We should go back now." Brennan cut her abruptly, standing up.

"Honey, its ok, what is it?" Angela was now worried.

"Its just that I forgot to leave a note letting them know where we're going and..."

"Whatever you said… we'll talk about what's disturbing you later. You're not getting rid of me that easily Brennan, you know me." Angela warned her.

"I know; that's why we're friends, thank you Ange." Bones thank her, with pure sincerity in her voice and hugged her "Well, let's keep going then; it's been a long time since we left."

When they arrived at the Jeffersonian, Booth and everybody were looking for them desperately, and when he saw the girls entering, he run to them and hugged lovingly her beautiful pregnant wife with relief.

"Oh Tempe where were you? I was so worried, nobody knew where you went or anything, and I tried to call you and it didn't work either." he was visible upset.

"I'm really sorry, I didn't notice that I left my cell phone here," she kissed him "I was with Angela, she took me to a nice restaurant and had a walk in the park after that, I promise it won't happen again."

"You've brought something for us?" she asked him staring at the corpse bag lying in the main lab table.

"Actually yes, this body was found in a cliff near Northcreek, a teenage couple found it when they went to a lonely place to... have a quiet talk; when they start climbing down to a small cave below the cliff, well they've sort of changed their plans," Booth was telling her.

"Have a quiet talk… or you may say to have some fun, wow, I can guess their faces, being all that romantic, with a plan and then..." Zack started making fun of the situation but with a cold stare Dr. Brennan stop him.

"Well I should go and let you guys do your job," Booth was leaving when he turn again to Bones, "I'll come and pick you up at 5:30, ok Bones?"

"But you just brought this to me..." she was about to complain.

"We promised Parker to take him to the movies…" Booth recalled it to her, "I'll bring you back here after that. So you could have some fun with Mr. Doe. I just hope you spent the night with me and not with him… like in many other ocasions, I could getsome jealous some times, you know?" he teased her and then kissed her to leave.

"Fine, don't worry I won't let Mr. Doe bothers you. I'll be waiting then and don't call me Bones," she kissed him back and wave him goodbye.

"See you later hun… have fun you guys!" he pulled his thumps up to the rest of the group, in a sort of way making fun of them.

"Of course we will," the rest of the group waved at him laughing, and Brennan just rolled her eyes and smiled too.

"Ok team, let's get to work," Brennan spoke to everybody in a cheerfull tone, "Zack what we have here?"

"Well Dr. Brennan we have a body found, as you've already been told, in a cliff, it was about a hundred and fifty feet down from the top. Over there's the bag with everything they found near it," he pointed a bag on a nearby table. "There are missing body parts, probably animals spread them and rip them of the body," there was half left leg missing along with three fingers of the right hand, the clothes were in pieces and covered in blood stains "nothing else was found near apart from this," he showed them the evidence bag, it was visible: an earring, a knife and a bottle of whiskey "it didn't had any kind of identification," the body was now fully uncover on the table, it was almost just bones, and it was wearing only blue jeans, a once white t-shirt and no shoes, "no visible violence marks, no gunshots, he definetely had many broken bones," he was pointing at a couple of broken rips, both legs, the right arm "but it's very certain that the cause of death was this masive contusion right here," he pointed at the occipital and parietal bones, where a huge dark red stain was visible, "apart from this crash on the right parietal bone.

"Ok that fits with a regular fell from a cliff," she was watching carefully every bone "ok then we have a man about 50 or 60 years old, over 6 feet tall, it looks like he's been for eight months out there or so, no visible marks or signs of anything else besides the ones from the falling, so we need to find more information… Hodgins start some toxicologic test, and then do your job with the bugs and determine the time he died, and along with Zack collect any left trace, hairs, check his clothes for any fiber or anything and remains under his nails… Zack you know what to do after that, I want them all clean, Angela you can start the reconstruccion of the area to create probable scenarios and check for missing persons with me. Let's see what we find with the current information," she conclude grabbing the evidence bag "or I should say until Seeley comes back to take me to waste valuable time on a boring movie."

When Angela and Dr. Brennan were through some files and checking information on the net, Angela interrupted a very thoughful Bones once again.

"You know sweetie… it's great you're getting all along with Parker. It looks like he really accepts you and its dealing perfecly with the whole situation," Angela stated, it was almost 20 minutes past five, "it's not easy for a little boy to see his father with another woman that it isn't his mother."

"I know, but he is very mature, we talked to him and explained him everything, responded every question, and well, he is very happy with the babies and can't wait to play with them." she said, unconsciously rubbing her seven months pregnant belly.

"And which movie are you going to see?"

"I'm not sure, he was trying to decide between two movies...mmm, I can't remember the names, anyway I just hope he have a great time. Booth's been very busy lately and they need this time together. If it were for me, I rather stay here to keep working on putting a name to that poor man..."

"Absolutely no! You need that time too. It's called bond-stretching and I'm sure you're going to have fun, besides you need to tell me what was the movie about."

At that very moment, Booth appeared on the office, greeting Angela and then kissing his wife.

"It's not five thirty yet," Bones complained, there were still five minutes of "her time", "we haven't even found out the name of that person.

"Don't worry Bones, you'll be back here by nine and still have fun with your squints," Booth added in a teasing tone, "let's go now, Parker is waiting for us."

"I've told you many times to not call me Bones! Oh well, what can I do…? See you later Angela, keep working on the face when Zack finished the cleaning, check for his dental records. I'll come back as soon as I can." she gave a last check on what they already have and left the office next to her husband.

"I'm not going through this all over again. I'm going to drive; it worries me that you can hurt yourself or the babies while driving. You don't have the same control because of the lack of space…" Booth was lecturing her.

"Don't use _our_ pregnancy as an argument to not letting me drive!" she was complaining when all of the sudden start to sob, "I'm well aware that I'm huge and my weight is increasing a lot. I know I look like an elephant but it's not my fault if you haven't notice, it happens to any pregnant woman, you know?" she was almost crying.

"_Not the crying thing again, she's been very moody lately_," Booth though, "No honey, I didn't mean that…" he quickly tried to enmend what he caused "It's like I told you, it worries me, but if driving makes you happy, then my concerns doesn't matter," he said, achiving on calming her "I'll let you drive this time."

She stopped her cries and muttered in a whisper, "thank you" and immediately she was okay again.

They do have fun, although the many questions Bones was asking Booth about the movie and characters. She didn't see the point or logic in a bunch of pirates with seashells and other things on their bodies, she just keep arguing about how immposible that was and pointing many more cientific facts against the situations occurring in the movie. At the end, after she kinda got into the story, she was totally disappointed, because the two lovers couldn't live together and that it wasn't a real ending, but what made Booth laugh was that strangely she was at the edge of tears, claiming that it wasn't fair.

Parker was very comprenhensive with her; on the past last months he'd learned about her mood swings and just played easy with her, so he started to follow her telling yes to anything.

"Well, I agree with you, but you know, maybe if you watch the other two movies you'll understant it better," he explained her, "and after that you can create a new ending to the story, a happy ending in which you'll feel better with," Parker succeed and she was better.

"I owe you one buddy" his dad thank him in a whisper, "you're brilliant and for that I'll take you anywhere you want or buy anything, well almost anything you ask" Booth told his son, but set some limits.

After the movie, Parker asked to go to a fast food restaurant but Bones said, "I need to go back to work and besides you need "a man time" to have some fun just the two of you", and after arguing about who was going to drive back again, they set she was driving to the Jeffersonian and he was going to drive the rest of the day.

"But Tempe, I want you to come with us…" the boy quickly added with a puppy face.

"I know little one, but there's something I need to do, and besides, if you two go by yourselves, you can go and play games boys play, or go to an arcade and have a talk man to man. I bet you'll enjoy spending time with your dad and to do stuff just the two of you." Bones assured the boy and gave him a hug.

The boy stood there thinking on the posibilities and remembered the time when they used to go to the minigolf court in the nights and talk about everything.

"Ok!" the boy agreed now smiling and turned to his dad to let him know his plans "can we go to play at the minigolf like we used to?"

"Great idea buddy! We just left Tempe back at the Jeffersonian and then it'll be only the two of us."

"On second though," Bones interrupted them, "can we go for an ice cream first, all on my count. I'm craving for a vanilla, strawberry and chocolate one right now" she invited them and both agree.

"I want a chocolate shake and a cookies and cream cone," Parker asked already testing and enjoying the flavors.

"That's too much sugar for you kid, just pick one." Booth warned him foreseeing the boy with all that sugar running through his vains.

"Oh please dad!" and once again he used his puppy face, it always worked to get almost anything "it could be the ice cream now and the shake during our game, please…" now he put his hands together pleading.

"All right, but it'll be a small shake." Booth told him in "that's my last statement" tone.

"Yes sir!" he agreed raising his hand to salute.

Both Temperance and Seeley laughed at the boy's gesture and then headed to the car to buy ice cream.

"Oh my God! This is wonderful! Its delicious!..." Bones was exclaiming at every taste she was giving to her ice cream. Her ice cream consisted on three balls of vanilla, strawberry and chocolate ice cream, on a base of strawberry mermalade, surounded by banana slices, covered with chocolate syrup and a strawberry on top of a whipped cream mountain, and finally everything sparkle with nut pieces "…oh yes this was exactly what we needed." she said rubbing her belly.

"I'm happy you're enjoing it." Parker was laughing at her, according to his point of view, it was like if it were the first ice cream she'd ever tasted.

"Yes Bones, that's great, I'm sure that's what those two were asking for!" he kissed her tenderly on the cheek.

"Are you sure you don't want some…" Brennan stared at him with annoyence but was soon vanished with another taste of her ice cream and offered him a little taste.

"No it's ok, you keep going. Do you need anything else?"

"No thanks, I'm fine... but now that you mention, maybe we should take some ice cream to the lab so the others can teste this heaven's gift, and I can eat some more later," her cravings started to talk out loud, "and on our way back, we can stop for some pizza. Yes, that'll be good."

-Whatever you want Bones, anything to please you my lady- Booth said it bowing.

She didn't even bother on complaining, she was still delighted with her ice cream so it didn't cause pretty much efect, so he just gave up on it and start to laugh.

After buying three gallons of ice cream, two pizzas, five bags of M&M's and one bag of marshmallows, they finally arrive at the Jeffersonian, to let Temperance go back to work.

"I think I better call Zack or somebody to help you with your supplies Bones, you can't carry that many things by yourself." Booth suggested after she insisted on not borrowing more of their "man time", because it was getting late and they still had a golf game to play.

"What did I...whatever, ok I'll call Zack" she was about to complain for the millonth time, but it was a lost battle, so she didn't. She pulled out her cellphone and asked Zack a hand. Booth made her wait for him inside the car, to which she agree without hesitation, she was feeling a little tired, it wasn't easy anymore to stay too much time on her feet, and her back also hurting her a little.

"Have fun you guys! Parker, make sure you won't let your dad win, ok." Once Zack arrive she climb off the car and turn to wave them goodbye.

"I can see you brought supplies Dr. Brennan…" Zack stared at everything she had bought containing his laughs.

"Just some things I bet everybody will enjoy, especially Angela; well let's go inside so you can put me up on what you found out during my absence." she said while pulling up a bag and started to head towards the lap, not noticing Zack struggles to carry the pizzas and the other bags.

After leaving everything in the kitchen area, they entered into the lab and Zack began to explain what they've found so far.

"Good evening Dr. Brennan," Hodgins stood in front of them to present her his foundings "I noticed you had a good time and came back with supplies, well, straight to the matter of what I found on Mr. Doe's body is that he died eight months ago, we found some skin under his nails and it belonged to another person, we're already looking for it, Zack's working on it along with the earring.

"I also found some skin and blood in the earring, I still don't get the results but I'm almost pretty sure it belongs to the same person of the skin found under the nails." Zack interrupted Hodgins to finish the sentence.

"And what about the blood on the knife? Have you found out the type or to whom it belonged to?

"It's part of the same analysis we ask, but in this case -and its what made us wonder even more- is that it looks like there are three different types, I also checked the clothes and I think I'm right about the three persons involved in the case" Angela completed the information.

They crowd around the body, now completely in bones, to start scanning for something else they hadn't noticed before.

Besides all the fractures, Dr. Brennan immediately found a bruise on the right femur, when Zack looked at it, he checked if the injury matched with the knife they have with the evidence, he pulled it out and put it over the mark. It was a positive match, meaning the bruise was made with the same blade.

"Let's keep going with this on virtual reality. I've done the arrangements to start the re-enactment, I already have the face and now I'm going to add this new info." Angela informed and walked to the respective room.

After everybody was set in their places, Bones ordered to turn the lights off and let Angela begin. They were all around ready to analyse the images, to add information if necessary and even to create hypothesis.

"Ok, here we go…" Angela said, holding her little board with one hand and a marker in the other one. She was pointing and marking things on her board as usual while the image started to form in front of everybody. The whole skeleton appeared and then Angela moved the "image" to focus only on the head and give a face to it.

All of them were watching how the face was being created and finally completed. Suddenly they heard Dr. Brennan murmur, "Oh no, not again!" and fainted after that.

* * *

Hello everybody, thank you so much for reading the whole chapter, I hope you'd liked it as much as I did, I'll really appreciate your reviews. I apologize for any grammar or spelling mistakes, english is not my native language, so I hope you still get the idea and understand the story.

Greetings from Guadalajara Mexico!


	2. Chapter 2

_**Two: Painful confessions.**_

When they heard Dr. Brennan murmuring, all of them turned to ask her what she'd said and right away noticed how pale she was and about to faint. Zack and Hodgins, who were at both of her sides, were able hold her, preventing more damage.

"Oh God! Jack, what happened?" Angela dropped her board and tried to help her friend "Tempe, sweetie wake up." she was knelt talking to her, but when nothing worked, she began to freak out even more "hurry, somebody call an ambulance."

"Don't worry honey, everything's going to be fine," it was Hodgins now trying to calm Angela "take it easy and breathe deeply, help is on the way," he was telling her while helping her sit on a chair and breathing along with her "try to breath deeply, remember the baby feels the same you do. So, try to stay calm everything's going to be ok." Angela managed to control herself. She didn't want to cause any harm to her own baby, and Brennan needed her to be hundred percent ok.

"I've already call to emergencies and their coming," Zack entered catching his breath "but I haven't been able to find Booth. I'll keep trying; Angela do you have Parker's mother telephone number? I'm going to try with her; maybe he'll get in touch with her."

"We have a thirty four years old woman with thirty two weeks pregnant, a little concussion y unconsciousness," a paramedic was explaining to a couple of doctors and nurses while walking fast throw a hospital hallway carrying Brennan in a stretcher "she's been going into and out of consciousness," at that moment Brennan was a little conscious murmuring, when all of the sudden she screamed and bent over in pain grabbing tightly her belly and passing out again.

The doctors set her on an intensive care room to keep a close attention on her and the babies. When Angela, Jack and Zack arrived she already had an IV. They were monitoring her contractions and the three heartbeats, but still wouldn't allowed them to see her until she was more stable, the doctor was explaining this when Booth arrived.

"Guys what happened? Where's Tempe?" he arrived and not even catching his breath started asking.

"Doctor Marshall was explaining Dr. Brennan's current state" Hodgins informed him.

"Dr. Marshall, I'm Agent Booth, Dr. Brennan's husband. What's wrong with my wife please, tell me the truth" he was questioning the doctor desperately "can I see her?"

"Well Agent Booth I was informing Dr. Brennan's colleagues that apparently she got a big shock or impression, which made her blood pressure to raised dangerously, so the body to protect itself "shuts down", and apart from that she had a little head concussion. What's more worrying is that because all the stress, she got into early labor, right now we're keeping her asleep to help her rest. We've been able to stop the contractions, she needs to remain calm and nothing to upset her. we need to keep her pregnancy as long as we can. Apart from all that, they're fine. A nurse will come to take you to her room, good night." and as he left the group, a nurse joined them.

"Hello, I'm Nurse Eileen, who's the husband?" she asked looking at the three men.

"I am." Booth replied immediately.

"All right then, follow me. You'll only be allowed to stay on her room for ten minutes, and just one person is permitted at a time" she now spoke to the rest of the group.

The first one to enter was Booth, it was very overwhelming for him seeing her like that, just a few hours ago she was his radiant and beaming wife, and now she was pale, in a hospital bed with white sheets; there were wires all around her, machines monitoring their babies heartbeats and another one for hers; two saline bags were hanging next to the bed connected to her by an IV on her left hand. She seemed so weak and defenseless, that couldn't handle it and tears began to fall on his face. He realized she was, as the doctor said, completely asleep. He decided to grab a nearby chair and placed it next to the bed, he sat on it and held her hand.

"Tempe… baby, it's me" he started talking her in whispers "I'm here… I'm sorry it took me a while to arrive, now I was the one who didn't notice the cell phone was off, sorry for the teasing today" he was looking at her very lovingly "hey little ones, how are you? You two have to be strong, I know its useless to tell you, because your mommy its very strong and I'm pretty sure by now you've already learned from her," he placed his hand over her belly and bent a little to talk directly to it "I promise you everything will work out fine, you just wait a little longer in there, its not your time to come out yet, its an order from your dad, so we have a deal." and felt a little kick under his hand, filling his heart with joy and happiness, meaning a lot to him "you three mean so much to me" now he had one hand over Tempe's belly and the other on her hand "I love you so much… Well I got to go now, your auntie Angela wants to see you too, but I'll be out here, don't worry." And with a last glance to the room he left it to let Angela enter.

He step outside, indicating Angela with his head it was her turn, moved aside and let her get in. A chill crossed her body at the sight of Temperance lying so powerless in that bed, she had always seen her as a very strong woman, like if nothing could ever touch her, but now it was very different.

"Hi sweetie" and sat on the chair next to the bed "I'd knew something wasn't ok with you. I'd noticed that something was bothering you, but you didn't wanted to tell it to me, I think I should have push you a little bit more to tell me the truth. I'm so sorry, I fail you as a friend." and tears began to roll down quietly over her face, she stayed like that for some more minutes.

"I think its time to reorganize our priorities my dear friend," with a little smile and trying to change her mood, added "we wouldn't be able to work like we use to right now, with two children each of us it ain't going to be easy working until late in the night," and laugh a little with this "I doubt Susan will take care of two little twins and my kids after eight in the night," she was visualizing the nanny chasing the kids "after everything is over, we deserve some vacations. I been planning them, as soon as you're out of here I'm going to convince you." she reached to fix a little bunch of her hair.

"Casie's been asking for you, she misses her auntie, you should visit her more frequently, she remembers all the time how her auntie Tempe took her to pick her birthday present by herself; she carries the doll you gave her everywhere," now she was smiling a little at the image of her daughter holding the doll and telling the story "you'll see how's it feel to have your little ones in front of you, they're so cute, and when they call you mom for the first time… and then when they talk and chat with you…they are the greatest gift on the world." now she was standing up and bend to say goodbye "I should go now, you know somebody is waiting anxiously at home, it's almost eleven and Casie needs to sleep, I'll see you tomorrow."

When she came out of the room, she found the boys seated in a couch in front of Brennan's room, so she sat next to a very worried Booth whose face was hidden behind his hands.

"Don't worry, she is very strong, she'll get over it." she told him with a hug.

"It's just that I feel so guilty and it's frustrating not being able to help her." Booth was blaming himself while his hands messed his hair in an attempt to get rid of all stress.

"I know. I feel the same, I sensed something was bothering her and I didn't push her to tell me the truth." Angela tried to reduce his frustration.

"Do you want us to do something for you, whatever you need." now Hodgins was asking "Is there anything we can do to help you?"

"No, nothing, thank you guys, you've already help us a lot," Booth thank them and added, "just go home and if there's anything, I'll call you. Angela I know Casie needs you, don't leave your baby alone, don't worry." now he was talking more to Angela and Jack.

"He is right guys, I'll go back to the lap and do what I can." Zack supported Booth's idea "so you'll let us know if there's any change."

And so, the three of them left a very worried Booth sat in front of Brennan's room, he was allowed to see her just for a few minutes every hour, until they permitted him to stay with her around four o'clock in the morning and look after her for the rest of the night.

Bones woke up the next morning, she was feeling a bit dazed and confused, then she noticed she was in a hospital surrounded by machines and cover with many different wires, at this sight, a wave of sorrow hit her, and the first thing she did was to touch her belly, after checking she was still pregnant she calm herself, it was when she saw Booth sleeping in the chair next to her bed.

She tried to get up but the noise woke Booth up and he stopped her immediately.

"Bones, what are you doing, lay down again," Booth told her not realizing the truth meaning of the phrase "hey, you're awake, how are you feeling?" now he approached and fixing her pillows to make her more comfortable continued his questioning "what'd happened?"

"I don't know, I can't remember, I was about to ask you the same."

"What's the last thing you remember?"

"I remember you left me outside the Jeffersonian, then Zack came to help me carry the stuff we bought and that they were updating me with the latest details they'd found on the case you brought us and then…" she was really struggling to remember, but the next memory she found was a very unpleasant one, one that had happened over sixteen years ago, so she just concluded "… nothing else."

"I better call the doctor and let the others know you're awake, they stayed here until almost midnight and ask me to call them when you were conscious." Booth stood up and left the room.

In the loneliness of the room, memories overwhelm her, what had happened? Why the memories and the face of that man were invading her mind? She was wondering about this while caressing her round belly and telling to her babies that everything will be ok and that she'll never let anybody hurt them.

When Dr. Marshall and Booth came back, a single tear was rolling down on her chick, which she whipped off with the back of her hand very fast. Booth sat next to her holding her hand, waiting to listen what the doctor had to say.

"Are my babies all well?" her maternal worries made her talk before the doctor started to talk.

"Both of them are fine, we have been monitoring them since you arrived and everything's perfect, we found a little change in their heartbeats but they're normal again." the doctor was standing next to one of the machines and was looking at a long piece of paper, which obviously were the heartbeats records.

"Nevertheless you have to take care of yourself, you have a 32 weeks twin pregnancy and its very common to have early deliveries. I'll recommend you to rest and that small concussion needs at least three days of absolute rest, you can go home this afternoon," now he looked at Booth to tell him instructions "I still need her to be carefully watched, any dizziness, headache, unconsciousness or any other abnormal symptom, call me please." and hand him a card.

"Ok, so it'll be done," he thanked the doctor who left right away after that "you've heard him Bones, I mean Tempe, absolute rest."

She looked at him a little annoyed but nodded anyway.

That afternoon, back on their house, Bones was resting on the living room waiting for Angela and the others arrival, while Booth was in the kitchen cooking pasta and a fresh salad.

"I can't see why you wouldn't let me help you, I know I'm not good at cooking but at least I can help you with the lettuce." Temperance was speaking from the couch seeing how he was struggling to do everything by himself.

"The doctor said absolute rest, so that is what you'll do." he told her for the millionth time that day.

"I invite Angela to dinner. She said she'll bring Casie, I hope it's ok with you." Bones said with a slight questioning tone, although it was more a notification "I need her to keep me informed of everything that happens on the lap. When the boys arrive, they'll update me on the case.

"Its ok, no problem. But you're not allowed to ask her about work, you need to rest, leave your job out of the game for a couple of days."

"But…"

"There's not excuse, do it for the babies, they need you to be calm." he walked towards her and was now pointing at her round belly.

An hour later, Angela arrived with her little companion and Booth answered the door telling Bones to remain on her seat.

"Hey Booth, how's the patient doing?" Angela greeted with a smile, hand in hand with little Casie.

"Hi uncle Boo" the girl greeted him happily, jumping and raising her arms to make her uncle hug her.

"Hello Angela, hey Casie," he said lifting the girl "what can I say… impatient. She doesn't want to rest, but as long as I'm here, she will."

"Hey! I'm still here in case you didn't notice! Hi Ange!" Bones' voice was heard from the living room and Angela step inside while Booth closed the door.

"Up, up!" Casie was asking Booth to do the airplane thingy, she really loved that and he did nothing else but pleased her.

As soon as they entered in the living room and Casie saw her auntie, let go of her uncle and run to hug Tempe.

"Auntie Tempe! Where are the babes?" the little girl greeted her and asked her usual question for the last couple of months.

"They're still in here Casie," she answered grabbing her little hand and placing it over her belly, so the girl could feel the babies kicking "so tell me, what you did today missy?" Her untie Tempe always treated her like a grown up girl and made her feel very important.

"Susan took me to the park, and we saw a very big beedle," Booth and Angela were smiling at the sight of the girl talking to Tempe, who was paying her whole attention "but she wouldn't let me grab it, it was going to be a gift for daddy, and then when we went to my swimming lessons, a boy pushed me," now Tempe put an amazed face and said -"he did?"- "but I stand up by myself and nothing happened to me."

"That's just great, my gorgeous girl," Tempe gave her another hug and a kiss, then added "would you like to play while we set the table?" nodding, the girl jumped off her lap and run to Parker's room.

"And now back to you, how you've been feeling, anything different?" Angela took up the conversation with Tempe, while Booth set the table "what had happened to you?"

"That's what I asked. By the way, I hope you can help her, we don't know how much information she lost." Booth interrupted.

"Well the last thing you said before you fainted was "not again" do you remember that?" Angela was staring at her, holding a small pile of plates to help set the table "we were doing the reconstruction of John Doe, we already had the face. Do you remember that?"

And everything started to clear up on Bones' mind, remember that made her hyperventilate. Booth and Angela run to her and make her seat on the couch, sitting themselves side by side with her. They were trying to calm her, asking her what was wrong. Now, it was clear to them the bothering issue was John Doe, he was the reason of her distress.

"That face… so that body belonged to… that meant it was over," she spoke very quietly. Many thoughts were running fast on her overwhelmed mind, but was it really over? Well, the one who hurt her so much was already dead, but that wasn't everything, it wasn't a closed chapter, there was something still missing. And it was equally painful for her.

Suddenly and without hesitation, Booth lifted her and took her to their room and laid her down on the bed, Meanwhile Angela went for a glass of water and a wet towel, then head back straight to the room.

When Casie heard the noises, came out of the room and face her mom "what's happening mommy?" the girl asked, when Angela saw her, she only carried her inside the bedroom again and explained her everything was ok and that she'll play the movie Snow White for her. After fixing everything, she left the girl watching the movie in the bedroom while the three adults locked up in the main room.

Inside the room, Booth was helping Bones to calm down. he handed her a small bag to breathe on it and recover a normal rhythm.

"That's right honey, breath in…" both of them filled their lungs with air "…and breath out." then released the air slowly.

Angela approached them, placed the towel on Bones forehead and offered her the glass of water. She took a sip and lay down back again.

"Sweetie, would you like to tell us what going on?" Angela questioned her "you've been acting odd… differently these past months. I know you… you can tell us what's upsetting you this much."

"Tempe, we can't help you unless you told us what's bothering you. We can't keep going like this, your health and our babies are in danger… this has come too far." Booth added sweetly.

Brennan started to cry and nodded to what they were telling her; Angela and Booth stared at each other with great concern and placed their looks back on her.

She took some deep breaths a few times. She knew it was time to tell them the truth. the part of her life that had always omitted, the most painful part of her history, the part she'd fought to forget; she knew that sooner or later, some way or another they'll find out. She'll confess her biggest secret.

"Well I think its time for you to know," she start to talk in a whisper still sobbing, made a pause "I have never told this to anybody, so nobody knows…well except who were involve… and I want to apologize with you Seeley for not telling you before, but it's just that I didn't know how to… or what you'll think of me…and I've never had the courage to face it," that moment Booth placed his hand over hers to reassured her, telling her that everything was going to be ok, that he was there for her.

By this time Booth and Angela were completely worried, they look each other and remain in silence giving Brennan their full attention.

"Well, you already know what happened when my parents disappeared. My brother and I were left alone, and at the end, he left too. So I became part of the system," Her eyes were focus on Booth and Angela's " that's where everything started, I'd never thought there'll be a bigger pain than loosing my parents… but I was so wrong, I couldn't ever imagined" new tears formed on her eyes, but just one rolled down on her face, but fought to hold the rest, she knew there was so much to tell.

"Every foster home brought different experiences, but there was one, in fact it was the last one I was in, it was where the most horrible things happened."

I remember it was a married couple without children, they'd dedicate the last ten years of their lives to take care of kids from the system; when I got to their house they welcome me very warmly.

"_Hello Tempe, you are very welcome to our home, we are Mr. and Mrs. Almarel." they were smiling sweetly, holding their hands "I'm pretty sure you must feel tired and I bet you'll like to see your bedroom, won't you? Come, I'll show it to you" Martha Almarel step forward offering her hand to a sixteen year old Tempe. In the meantime Johan Almarel was signing and receiving some documents from the social worker._

"_This one is going to be your bedroom," it was a big and illuminated room, there were two other bedrooms besides the one belonging to the couple, she had her own bathroom, the whole room was decorated in white and light peach colors, there was a full body mirror, two windows with white curtains, a lovely vanity with its chair and some new clothes on the closet "I hope you like it, I decorated all by myself," Martha said with pride on her voice "well I'll leave to let you settle, dinner will be ready in one hour. I made pasta, I'm the best pasta cooker in the county, you know? Ok, so would you like me to prepare you any special desert? Mmm, what about cheesecake? Do you like it?" the nice lady asked, smiling widely and waiting for her answer._

"_That'll be fine, thank you very much Mrs. Almarel." Temperance said sheepishly._

"_Oh please, call me Martha" she point her out and left._

"I thought that finally I was being lucky enough to be with responsible and nice people, that it was the best thing to happen, and for some weeks it was. Until one night everything changed," her eyes moved to see her hands over her lap, she was very ashamed of the next part and couldn't held eighter Booth's or Angela's stare.

"_well Tempe, I guess it's just you and me for the rest of the day. Every time Martha goes to play with her friends, always returns back home very late, that vicious woman." Johan said joking –she couldn't be totally perfect right? that's the only problem she has" and laugh a little "what you think if the two of us prepare some popcorns and watch a movie?"_

_When they were watching the movie, Temperance realized he was too close from her, but ignored thinking that it must be because he wanted to seat in front of the tv screen. unfortunately it wasn't like that, the first thing was that he stretch his arms and accidentally rest his right arm on Temperance and his hand was over her shoulder, she pretend not noticing it but something inside her warned her; when he put his other hand on her leg, she knew it wasn't ok, something was terribly wrong and it wasn't her imagination._

_She tried to stand up and leave, but he stopped her, and pull her to him, she started to fight trying to release from him but he was very tall and strong, and with an amazing and fast movement he lift her and took her to one of the rooms._

_She was pleading him to let her go, that there was a homework she needed to do, but all he was doing was holding her tighter and whispered in her ear "you can do it later"_

_Once in the room he put her on the bed and covered her mouth, tears were running down her face pleading to not harm her, but he was only telling her that she was beautiful, that he was in love with her, and that he knew she felt attracted to him, to stop denying it._

_She tried as much as she can to get out of there but he had her completely immobilized, on top of her saying things she couldn't listen anymore, and then he start to unbutton his pants and finally removed her clothes._

"It was horrible, I was a virgin, it was the first time a man ever touched me. When he finished, he threaded me, he said that if I ever tell anybody about it, I'll regret it, that he'll make me suffer in an unimaginable way; I was laying motionless on the bed, I was in so much pain and feeling all dirty, he made me feel worthless, and wishing to be dead," a new stream of tears cover her eyes but this time she wasn't able to hold them and cover her face with her hands to let them flow freely.

"Oh my God, Tempe, why you didn't tell me about this before," Booth stood and held her trying to protect her from something, that was too late to "I can't believe how you manage to keep this burden for so long all by yourself. Forgive me if I ever did or said something that could hurt you," he was speaking softly face to face with her.

She raised her arms and hugged him too, telling him how much she loved him and that it was her the one to apologized for hiding it. Angela watched them with teary eyes and intervened to tell Brennan she hadn't had idea either, and never thought it'll be something like that, and felt sorry for pushed her into telling her.

"I'll make sure that bastard son of a bitch be on jail. I'll catch him and make him suffer so much he'll pray for death," Booth said full of anger and frustration.

"You don't have to. Its not necessary," Brennan interrupted him in a thin voice "he's dead, do you remember the last body you brought us?"

With this information they understood everything, every piece fit on the puzzle. Angela understood why after finishing the reconstruction of the face, Brennan said "not again" and why she got upset so much, seeing him all again.

"There's more, that wasn't everything," Bones breath and full of courage continued –that situation continue for some more months until one day things change even more.

"_Brennan you should go to see a doctor or at least tell Martha what's going with you and how you been feeling, you've been over a week feeling nauseas," her classmate Minnie was with her at the school restrooms, listening how Tempe was emptying her stomach behind the door._

"_I've told you its nothing, I probably ate something that made me sick, it'll be over soon, besides I don't want to worry Martha. I'm sure she will follow your advise and take me to a doctor, you know what I think of them," she step out closing the door behind her, went to the nearest sink and bend over to start washing her mouth, when all of the sudden felt dizzy and everything went blank._

_When she woke up she was in a hospital room and saw Mr. and Mrs. Almarel outside talking to a doctor. She could barely heard what they were talking about, the only thing she perfectly understood was one of the doctor's words - pregnant- and then Martha bursting out in tears._

_She was shocked; she couldn't even think of anything, her gazed was lost into nothing. Then she felt fear, and question herself what she will do, she wasn't even seventeen, what will happen with her studies, what she will do with a baby, and it was when she fully realized there was a baby inside her, a human being growing in her tummy, strangely she wasn't feeling any rejection to it, considering the circumstances it was being conceived. _

"After that day, he didn't even stare at me and when he did, his eyes were full of disgust. I couldn't tell Martha the truth about who got me pregnant, she had been so nice to me, so I told her it was a boy from school, even though she was visible disappoint of me, she always said that I was the daughter she never had, she took care of me and help me during my whole pregnancy. unfortunately she set the arrangements that I'll give the baby for adoption too, she said that I couldn't keep it, and it'll be the best for everybody," Brennan talked making no pause and looking into nothing, remembering her baby and caressing her round belly thinking how lucky she was for having another opportunity and somebody who loved her and expected lovingly the arrival of her babies along with her, "when she was born, they didn't even let me see her."

"_Come on Tempe, you can do it, just a little bit more," Martha was saying, holding her hand "just a few more pushes and it'll be over."_

"_I can't…" __Tempe was gasping tiredly "I'm not sure I can make it, I can't do it anymore."_

"_Yes, you can, come on, take a deep breath and push," Martha insisted imitating herself the push._

"_A__ll right Tempe, I know you're tired, and I'm going to help you," now the doctor intervened seeing the girl struggles for pushing the baby out "listen to me, you are going to hold this sheet, and you have to do it very strongly because I'm going to pull it from the other end, and you have to stop me pulling it to my side, understood?" the female doctor explained her, she decided on using that technique to help her focus her strength and push correctly and harder. _

"_ok," Tempe agreed not sure about it, she was very tired, she had been in labor for over twelve hours and almost one hour pushing, it was hard to think of holding the sheet and to do what the doctor instructed her._

"_Now on the__ next contraction I want you to take a very deep breath, fill you lungs with air and hold it. At the same time I'm going to pull the sheet as I told you, and you'll pull it too," the doctor was holding the sheet too and was looking at Tempe directly in the eyes and talking to her in a calm but firm voice._

_Tempe started to gasp again when the next contraction began, took as much air as she could and pull with all her strength the sheet, the doctor did the same and with that push the baby's head came out, the doctor immediately stop pulling and asked Tempe to do the same._

"_Very well done Tempe, now one last push and it'll be over. I need you to take a deep breath one last time and push, you don't need the sheet anymore, are you ready?"_

_Tempe nodded, breathed deep and with one last push the baby was completely out._

"_you've done a wonderful job Tempe," she was saying while clearing the baby's airways, it was when it start to cry, it's a beautiful and very strong baby girl."_

_At __ that very moment, the only thing Tempe wanted was to hold her baby, but they didn't allowed her. the doctor just turned around and handed the baby to a nurse who held her and went to another room. The doctor seeing how Tempe was crying and pleading for her baby, explained it'll be less painful if she doesn't see her. And with that she was left fully devastated, in the cold hospital bed, with Martha at her side trying to comfort her, but she didn't noticed it, it felt like she was completely alone._

"The only thing I know is that it was a girl. I guess it was the best after all," it was obvious she wasn't convince of this "after that, when I turned off age I left and never knew anything more of any of them."

The three of them remained in silence for several minutes. Nobody knew what to do or say, they were deep in their own thoughts. The only interruption, which brought them back to reality, were some tiny knocks on the door and Casie's little voice letting them know the movie was over and that she was hungry.

Angela stared at the door and smiled "I guess it'll best if we leave," she turned to see Booth and Brennan "I'll call the meeting off, don't worry"

"Thank you Angela, tell them it'll be cancel until new notice," Booth thank her.

Brennan raised her eyes and seeing Angela lift her hand to her friend and said "thank you so much for listening Angela, I know I can count on you always," now Angela stood up and hug her.

"I'll always be here for you my dearest friend, and remember I'll do anything to help you, just call for it," Angela told her holding her hands.

"Just one thing before you go, let me say goodbye to Casie," she asked her, while fixing herself to receive the girl in a more proper state.

"Mommy, can I have a glass of milk, please?" the girl told Angela when she opened the door "and the movie is over," the girl's sweet voice, left her mom with no option but to smile and hug her.

Once in her mom's arms, the girl was fully aware of the scene. She saw her untie Tempe in the bed with her eyes reddened and her uncle Boo next to her with and angry frown, but when they approached the bed he started smiling at her too.

"Are you sick auntie Tempe?" the girl wonder.

"No, beautiful. I'm just tired," her aunt answered raising her arms to hug her.

The girl reach her, gave her a hug and sat next to her. She was looking carefully to each and every adult. Her eyes, which were like her mother's, were going from one pair of eyes to another, she could notice something wrong was happening.

"Why are you sad? Why uncle Boo's mad?" the girl finally spoke out loud her thoughts.

The adults stare at each other, no one knew what to say to a two year old girl, who managed to realize something was happening among them.

"No sweetie, we're just worry about a work issue, that's I,"- Booth said fixing her light brown hair, and lift her into a hug.

"I can help," the girl pointed.

Everybody laugh and Brennan hold her again to kiss her and whispered in her ear "yes little one, I know you can help, thank you," and with another hug, handed her to her mom, who was seeing her with pride, she couldn't believe how smart her little girl was.

"Well Casie, say bye bye, we have to tell the others about a meeting," Angela said holding her.

"Can we go with daddy, I want to give him cookies, he likes me to visit him. He told me he misses me a lot, just like I do," the girl enjoy visiting her parents on the lab, and use any excuse to go.

"Ok we'll go to visit him," she knew she can't avoid it, so just agreed.

"Yay!," the girl celebrate and turn to say goodbye "bye auntie Tempe, bye uncle Boo," she was waving her little hands, full of happiness.

"Call me if you need anything," she was giving Brennan another hug "you just rest sweetie, and don't worry we'll work it out."

Angela left and Booth went with her to thank her, once alone in her room, Brennan thought of the last events, she had finally confessed her biggest and worst secret. in a sort of way she knew she can trust them and that they'll be there for her, and felt how the weight she had carried for so long was getting lighter. She heard Booth's steps coming back to the room and looked at him when he stepped in. they stared each other in silence for a moment, then he smiled at her and walked towards the bed.

He laid down next to her and round her with his arms. She felt weak, helpless and tired, so she just rest her back on his chest. The steady sound of his heartbeats calmed her and made her feel safe.

"You're a very strong and brave woman Temperance Brennan. I don't know how you managed to keep and carry such burden for so long, but now I'm here with you and I'm going to help you," he whispered in her ear "I love you," and kiss her.

One more tear fell on Brennan's face, took a calming deep breathe and nod silently, then closed her eyes and lost on those arms that made her feel save until she fell asleep.

Hello everybody, finally chapter two's up, hope you liked it, please I'll be glad if you let me know what you think, I apologize for any grammar or spelling mistake, English is not my native language, this chap is dedicated to my family, even though they hadn't read it and for you specially, for reading it, and leaving reviews, xoxo.

Greetings from Guadalajara Mexico!


	3. Chapter 3

**Three:**** Traces.**

That night, like many before, she dreamt about the events she had just confessed to her husband and best friend. The dreams were very disturbing, and when she woke up, the cries of her long lost baby girl were still echoing in her ears. The morning light was visible outside, and she noticed the empty spot in the bed next to her. Her husband, Seeley Booth, was already up, and apparently cooking breakfast by the sound and smell. She remained there, sitting on her bed for a few more moments thinking, with her eyes fixed on the floor as her hand caressed her round belly. In a very quiet voice she said: "I promise I will find you".

Some minutes later, she decided it was time to get up. Going to her wardrobe, she collected some clean clothes and walked to the bathroom, hoping a long warm shower would clear her mind.

When Booth heard her opening the shower, he left everything set in the table, and went to see her and check how she was feeling that day. He knocked on the door and called, "Tempe, can I come in?" his tone was hesitant. After what she told him the night before, he was afraid on causing her any disturbance.

"Come in," Tempe responded quietly. She was seated in the bathtub, brushing her arms softly with a sponge. When Booth entered she looked at him and smiled sweetly. He saw a mixture of love, sadness and fear in her eyes. Stepping closer, he knelt beside her.

"Good morning," he said, bending down to kiss her on the forehead

"How are you feeling today?" he asked. Gently removing the sponge from her hand, he started to wash her back tenderly.

"Fine, thank you," she answered, her voice still quiet.

Not knowing what to say, both remain in silence. Finally it was Booth who broke the silence. "I love you so much. I wouldn't know what to do without you. You mean so much to me, Tempe," he said, his voice was shaking with emotion.

Tempe turn around to face him and what she saw was pure love radiating from him. She smiled and pulled him into a sweet kiss. As she caressed his face with her hand very tenderly, he kissed her back very slowly.

"Thank you. I don't know what I'll do if you weren't here with me. I love you too," Tempe said with relief. His tender concern touched her deeply and suddenly she was certain that they could work things out together.

He helped her with the rest of her bath and massaged the tension out of her shoulders and back.

While they ate a light breakfast of cereal, yogurt, toast, orange and apple juice, they kept the conversation light. Booth told Bones his latest plans for the babies and Parker, and she talked about how they were going to manage once the babies were born. With their jobs it wasn't going to be easy to take care of them. He told her again that everything would be fine.

The next Monday, she was ready to go back to work. Even though Booth wasn't pleased about it, she insisted.

"I don't think you're ready to go back, Tempe. You need to rest and…" he said, trying for the third time that morning to convince her not to go to work.

"I am ready. I feel perfectly fine. Besides I need a closure on the matter, it's the only way to keep going with my life. Angela and the boys will be there with me, don't worry," she assured him. She was absolutely convinced of her words, and nothing was going to change her mind.

"Fine, if that's what you really want. Just promise me you'll call me if anything happens and that you won't push yourself to much ok?" Booth was visibly worried but there was nothing else he could do to stop her and he knew it. So he made her promised to keep in touch all the time.

He drove her to the Jeffersonian, kissed her goodbye and asked her one last time if she was sure about it and after she nodded he left for his own job.

She stopped outside the entrance door, took a deep breath and then entered with confidence.

The lab staff greeted her and welcomed her back. Nobody knew the real problem, and she wasn't ready to share yet. Angela had kept her up-to-date on the case so she was aware of what to expect.

"Dr. Brennan, it's great to have you back," Zack was going to hug her but hesitated and shacked hands instead so he simply escorted her to her office. When Hodgins and Angela arrived ten minutes later, the artist immediately run towards Brennan and hugged her for almost a minute. Angela was very happy to see her back too but was equally worried. The four of them have a little meeting in Brennan's office to get her up to speed on the details and their theories.

Zack and Hodgins, only knowing part of the story, that the dead man was the reason for Bones' collapse, were hesitant about sharing the information.

"Ok, so let's start with this," Angela began, noticing the others hesitation. Picking a folder from the desk, she moved close to her friend. "Are you sure you're ready for this?" she whispered to Brennan. Then louder she asked, "Zack, you identified the body?"

"Mmm… yes," Zack replied, pausing to clear his throat. "The body belonged to Mr. Johan Almarel. We confirmed it with dental records. He was reported as missing person almost eight months ago…" he paused to shuffle some papers, "by Martha Almarel, who passed away three months later." His car was found in a parking lot near the cliff. The FBI still have it, and we found more blood and hairs in it. We were able to identify three different donors of the blood stains, and fortunately we already have a name for each one."

Hodgins spoke up. "The house was sold a long time ago, so we probably won't find much trace evidence. However, Mrs. Almarel reported finding her house with traces of a fight and some bloodstains. Using what we found in the car and the cliff we came up with some theories."

"I think we should continue with the Angelator," Angela suggested.

"How are you feeling? Can you handle it?" Angela questioned Brennan as they left the office.

"Yes, totally, thank you so much Ange." Bones thank her with a hug.

"A hundred percent sure you want to keep going?" she questioned again to double check. Bones nodded again.

Once they were settle around the Angelator, Zack start with the possible events that could have happened.

"Well the first possibility is that the fight began in the house and continued all the way along to the cliff. The evidence shows that three subjects were involve since the beginning. Mrs. Almarel has an alibi; according to the report, she was in a poker meeting with friends and it was confirmed back then."

Zack turned to Dr. Brennan and to Angela who was starting to create the images of the house.

"The autopsy proved he was drunk during the attack, and the liver and kidneys show massive damage from the alcohol abuse."

Hodgins gave Angela his input for the scenario. "Police records indicate he had two old complaints for disturbance in a local bar; so we're trying to find out if he was arriving or if he was inside the house when he was attacked."

"Although he arrived drunk, the report doesn't say anything about empty bottles, and the complaints from the bar show he was a frequent visitor," Zack interrupt, presenting his point.

Finally Bones dare to speak. "Ok, let's not take anything for granted yet, who are the other suspects?"

She was watching everything and everybody carefully in silence, her breathing very calmly and her emotions under control, just like in any other case.

"Two teenagers, a boy and a girl, probably a couple: nineteen year old Daniel Wood and seventeen year old Isobel Richardson. The police are still tracking them down. Mr. and Mrs. Almarel were Isobel's foster parents, so the child services is trying to find her too," Angela answered. "I just got their records this morning, here check them" Angela offered her two folders.

Brennan flipped open the first one, the file on Daniel Wood. His record was a clean, apart from one restriction against contacting Miss Richardson. "He seems to be a good boy. They'll visit his family later," thought Bones after she finished reviewing the file.

The second folder contained Isobel Richardson' records. It was a bit thicker than the other one, but still clean. Most of the papers were about the families and places where she had lived. She decided read it later in more depth. A picture of the girl slipped from between two pages and her gut twist as she looked at it. She wasn't sure what caused the strange feeling, probably pity or sympathy. The simple idea that she lived with Johan Almarel too, made her feel empathetic toward the girl.

As she had already been told, there was a detention order on Isobel Richardson for being principal suspect in Mr. Almarel's disappearance, nowprobably murder.

"Ok, let's recheck everything, since none of the evidence fits a single theory," Brennan proposed.

"Show me the injuries found on the body," she instructed Zack.

"We found an injury on his right femur, made by this knife," he said, showing the blade. "Blunt force trauma to his parietal and temporal bones. His collar bone, several ribs and left wrist were broken."

Hodgins took over from Zack. "The blood found on the car belongs to Mr. Almarel and Miss Richardson, but the sample was very small, so both of them were probably alive when they last used it. Mr. Almarel's blood was on the back and driver's seats; Richardson's was only on the back." He hesitate a moment before continuing "Semen in the back seat indicates sexual activity. It turned out to be Mr. Almarel's, and there's someth…"

A sudden gasp from Dr. Brennan stopped him. "_Oh my God, that bastard did it again!"_ Bones thought angrily.

"We concluded that the fight began in the house," Zack continued, ignoring Brennan's upset frown. "It must've been amongst the three of them, because there wasn't any blood from Wood in the car."

"That doesn't exclude him completely from been in the car," Hodgins pointed out.

-I know, but if there were blood stains from Wood on Almarel's body then he must be injured in... you're right, it could have happened on the cliff too." Zack realized his error and mentally beat himself up for jumping into early conclusions.

Hodgins resumed his explanation. "Again that take us to the cliff, so everything must have ended there. They drove from the house and get to the cliff. It's obvious there was a major fight…"

"The earring found at the scene next the body places the girl there. She was probably the last person to see him alive," Angela added.

"Yes, but still it's not conclusive. The cause of dead was blunt force trauma to the skull," Zack reminded them.

"Could have been made by an object or because of his fall?" Angela asked trying to re-enact the scene.

"I've already checked it; the marks on the bone were made by a sharp stone. The angle and depth of the wound shows it wasn't a moving object. It definitely happened during the fall."

Angela modified the virtual image to show a body hitting rocks as it rolled down the cliff.

"Well, sexual assault is a good motive for murder, if it was the girl. But we still need to find out how and whether or not somebody helped her," Hodgins commented.

"We need to find those two and get their statements. There are still many missing pieces to narrow it down to one theory of the crime. I'll let Booth know and he can do his FBI job." Brennan added.

"We've identified all the places, objects and parties involve. Let's leave the others do theirs jobs now. Once those teenagers are found, if their story doesn't match with the evidence, it'll be up to the system to prosecute them," Zack said.

Dr. Brennan mentally added, "_or maybe award them_."

"I'll be in my office if you need anything," she said. Being there and seeing all those images, thinking about that poor girl was very exhausting for her. She was eager to end this as quickly as possible, get some closure and move on.

The other three watched her retreat and then glance at each other in concern.

Angela murmured, "I don't think she was ready yet. I better go check on her."

"I'm telling you, there is something going on. Ever since this body came, she's been acting very strange. I'm sure he's the reason for her collapse, but what could he have done to made her act like that?" Zack mused.

"I'm sure she'll let us know in time…" Hodgins eyes were fixed on the door the two women had walked through moments before. "Well let's get back to work. I'll check with Booth and see if they've already received this information, or if anything new came up." saying this he left the room too.

A quiet knock on the door announced Angela's presence in Brennan's office.

"Hi sweetie," Angela greeted her in a low voice. "May I come in?"

Bones was sitting at her desk with her hands covering her face. "Yeah, sure, come in Angela. You're always welcome," she responded, lifting her head at the sound of her friend's voice.

"You're probably tired of hearing this question, but how are you feeling?" Angela took the seat in front of her and watched her intently. "I'm not sure it was a good idea for you came back to work this soon, and definitely not on this case."

"I'm ok, Angela, really. I just needed to do it, you know? Whether I like it or not, he was, and still is, a part of my life… it's just that I can't stop thinking about…my…about my baby" Her voice was weak and tears filled her eyes. "He was… the Almarels were my last option to ask about her whereabouts. My last chance died with him."

Unable to hold back any longer, a couple of tears escape her eyes and rolled down her cheek.

"I know honey, but I promise you, we're going to find her," Angela said. "Booth is a great investigator and we're pretty useful too."

This comment drew a small smile in Brennan's face which was soon erased.

"One part of me is relieved that he's dead…almost happy… Am I a bad person for feeling that way?" she asked in an even thinner voice.

"No honey, not at all. You're a good person who helps others no matter what. You should feel very proud of yourself for surviving everything you been through. You have grown so much and you're a wonderful person. Always remember that, ok?" Angela comforted her.

"When they mention the possibility of rape, because I'm pretty sure that it was, I felt so many things. Now all I want to do is to find that girl, and help her get through this. If she really murdered that man, then she doesn't deserve to be jailed for that. I'll do anything I can to help her out." As she spoke, Bone's voice grew stronger, sounding very confident and convinced.

"We're going to uncover the truth and solve this. We'll be supporting you every step of the way," Angela added, tapping her hand.

"Thank you, Angela. Thank you so much" and with that dried her eyes and smile a little.

"And now sweetie, you should go and get some rest. When we locate Richardson and Wood, we'll let you know," Angela said, hoping to convince her friend to take the break she obviously needed.

"You too, Ange. You should feel very proud of yourself. You need to rest and take care of that baby. I appreciate your concern but your health is also important to me, so don't make me worry about you," Bones said, pointing at her friend's belly.

A moment of inspiration hit and she said, "Wait, I have a better idea. I'll let the others know we're leaving and ask them to call us when they find them. You and I are going to pamper ourselves, on my dime. I won't take no for an answer. Breakfast and a visit to a spa sound like heaven right now."

"A girls day?" Angela exclaimed. "I really like the idea. Would it be okay if Casie came to breakfast with us?" Leaving her daughter all day made her feel guilty, and chances like this, when she could spend some quality time with her, weren't common.

"Absolutely, I can't wait to see her again. As a matter of fact, they have a massage session for babies at the spa, so we can take her with us there too"

"Alright then, I'll tell Jack about it and be ready in ten minutes," Angela said standing up from her seat.

"Great, I'll call Seeley. There are some things I need to ask him." she needed him to help her with one case and the localization of Isobel Richardson and Daniel Wood.

An hour later they arrived at The Hodgins Manor; it was a beautiful house, with gardens all around it, a little lake and a greenhouse on the backyard. To the left side a huge playground where Casie was playing under care of her nanny Susan. Both woman walk straight there and at the very moment the little girl's gaze reached them, she greeted them and jumped off the slide and ran toward them. Her mom knelt down and held her tightly and with a kiss greeted her back.

"Mommy! Mommy! You're here!" the little girl was grinning and bouncing in joy, her light brown curls shinning in the sunlight "Are you going to stay here and play with me?" and then turned to her aunt "Hi auntie Tempe, you came too!" She was amazed with the visit of her mom and auntie.

"Hey baby! How's mommy's little girl doing today?" Angela asked still holding her.

"Well…missing you" and Casie made a puppy face.

"Really? But I thought you were having fun over there with Susan" Angela knew just what to say. It had been the same scene for the last couple of months every time she visited her daughter early in the day. And since the girl found out she was going to have a baby brother or sister, she had been seeking for a bit more of attention from her parents.

"Yes, but still…" the girl muttered, caught in the lie.

"It's ok, baby. I've been missing you too, the whole morning" and with another kiss Angela put her down.

"Auntie Tempe! Where are the babies?"

"In here, gorgeous," Bones answered pointing at her belly, bending a little to kiss her and hug her.

Both women turned to greet the nanny, who was walking to where they were.

"Good morning, Susan," Tempe said with a smile.

"Hi Susan, how are you? How's this little one behaving today?" Angela asked the nanny.

"Good morning Doctor Brennan. Good morning Mrs. Hodgins," Susan welcomed them as usual "Little Miss Casie always behaves. She is such a lovely girl, you don't need to ask. Are you staying here in the garden for breakfast?"

"Thank you very much Susan, but we're going out for breakfast, you can take the day off," Angela thanked her. She knew her daughter was very well behaved, but still asked her everyday.

She was very happy to have Susan, a woman of about forty years old, well mannered and with many years of experience in child care. Casie really love her, and it was obvious that Susan cared about the girl. She had been with them since Angela was still pregnant; she even taught her and helped her with many basic things about babies. Angela felt totally safe with her around, and with her current pregnancy, Susan was the first one to noticed even the slight symptoms of it, and being an OBGYN nurse she had been taking special care of her.

"Very well then." Susan approached and grabbed Casie's hand and went inside the house to get the girl ready to go out. "She'll be ready in ten minutes."

"Thank you very much Susan, we'll be waiting in the parlor," Angela informed the nanny.

Nanny and girl walked inside the house while both women stayed behind talking.

"She is wonderful Angela, I wish I could find someone like her. I'm definitely going to need some help when these two little ones are born," Brennan said staring at the door where moments before Susan had disappeared.

"I'll ask her if she knows somebody," Angela offered.

After a moment of silence Angela saw the worried expression on Brennan's face and asked, "What is it honey?"

"It's just that I'm not sure I can do this."

"Do what?"

"Take care of a baby, not to mention two. I don't know how to be a mom, what if something goes wrong or if anything bad happen to them because of me, what if I…"

"It won't. You'll be a great mother and it's natural to feel that way. I felt the same way too, actually sometimes I still wonder if we're doing the right things," Angela assured her containing a small laugh.

"But the last time…"

"The last time was very different. In first place you were just a teenager, and now you've turned into a wonderful woman who had been given a second chance. I can lend you Susan one of these days and you can ask her anything you want," Angela said tapping her back smiling.

Brennan smiled back at her thankfully and then both turned at the sound of Casie and Susan entering in the parlor.

"Well let's go now. Casie are you ready to go out?" Angela asked her daughter.

-Yay!- the girl screamed with excitement and bouncing joyfully.

And with that they left to enjoy the rest of the day.

* * *

Hello again! Thank you so much for your patience. I hope you'd enjoyed this chap, please let me know what you think, thank you very much for leaving reviews.

I want to give special thanks this time to Sara, for all the hard work and devotion on checking this chap, -Sara, it meant a lot to me, thank you for making this chapter a lot better- I also thank my parents for supporting me and letting me spent hours stuck to the computer. Love you all!

Greetings from Guadalajara Mexico!


	4. Chapter 4

**Four: Shopping havoc.**

The next morning, Bones decided that it was about time to do some shopping.

"Are you going to be free this evening?" Bones asked Booth while putting on her maternity clothes.

Booth was knotting a tie around his neck, "As far as I know… unless something comes up, why?" he answered from the other corner of the room.

"I would like to buy some baby stuff and I'll really appreciate if you could go with me. I already made a list," Bones added the last part quickly after seeing her husband's face expression, "yesterday, I talked with Susan and she cleared some questions I had," Bones crossed the room and stood in front of him, facing him with a it's-not-a-big-deal look, and she finished the knot.

"It was about time. I've been wondering when this day will come," Booth said and kissed her on the forehead, his arms around her waist.

"When I was in the hospital, I realized that we're running out of time," Bones caressed her round belly, staring it, "these two could arrive any of these days," her eyes met his again.

And with another kiss he added, "I'm well aware of that. I already have many plans for them; actually I think it'll be a good idea to sign them in the baseball team."

"You're kidding me, right?" Bones asked annoyed.

Booth smiled and winked at her, and said, "I'm going to pick you up at 4, be ready."

"Ok, fine. We'll talk about it later. Now, let's go, it's getting late." She said leaving the room.

"I'll drive," Booth said holding the car keys, walking behind her.

"Whatever." Bones just raised her hand, not really caring that matter anymore.

The day went by very fast and Bones was at her office, ready to leave. In the meantime, while waiting for Booth to arrive, she started checking some baby-related websites. Booth knocked the door at four o'clock, just as he said, approached at her desk and greeted her with a kiss.

"Still working? I thought you'll be ready by now?" after a careful look at the screen, asked again, "What are you looking for?"

"I am ready. I was only checking for baby stores. Do you have any idea of how many there are? Hundreds…"

"Well it doesn't matter, we just need one. Let's go now." Booth rushed her, helping her to stand up.

Forty minutes later, they parked in the lot of a huge store. Booth helped Bones to get out of the car and walked a few feet to the entrance. A boy, of about twenty years old, welcomed them as soon as they crossed the entrance door.

Bones was astonished. It was really a huge store. From the spot where she was, it was possible to glimpse the alleys, formed with perfectly lined shelves, packed with many different things.

At the sight of the crowded alleys, Bones thought, "This is going to be more difficult than I thought."

"Good afternoon, my name is Reese. You came to sign in our Baby Table? If you do…

"We're not, thank you Reese, we're just…" Bones interrupted the young employee.

The boy interrupted her as well, "Is there anything you're looking specifically for?

"Yes, but we would like to go on our own, thank you" Bones told the boy, a little annoyed.

"As you wish ma'am, I'll be around in case you need anything," The boy step back, and handing them one of his id's cards, he said, "I'll be please to help you."

"Thanks." Booth said, and once Bones was a step away from them, added, "Excuse my wife, she's been a little out of herself lately."

"Don't worry sir. We're used to these kinds of reactions." The young boy told the man.

"Booth, come on." Bones called Booth annoyed.

In order to ease the situation and to calm her, he hurried himself to her side, and together started to walk through the alleys.

"Ok… so… the most important thing we need is… diapers," she said, reaching the shelves, which were the first ones, right in front of the entrance. She stopped halfway the aisle for a moment, staring hopelessly both sides.

Booth approached at her and seeing her confusion, asked, "What is it, honey?"

"There are so many. How am I suppose to pick the right one?" she grabbed some packages and started to read the labels on it. "Look, this one has Aloe Vera, these other ones vitamin E, those have broader elastic bands, apparently to bring support on the back…"

Suppressing a small laugh, Booth called the young employee, "hang on, … excuse me Reese. Could you help us a little here, please?"

The boy, who was a few feet from them, smiled and walked to where they were, "Sure, what can I do for you?"

"We're having problems to choose the best brand and type of diapers." Booth talked politely.

"Well, I can see you already decided on using disposable diapers…" the boy began talking but was interrupted by Bones.

"Wait a minute… you're saying there are no disposables too, so there are even more options than these ones?" Bones asked clueless, signaling with her index finger the whole aisle.

The boy smiled again and continued, "Yes. I can put you in contact with some companies; some of them have very complete services, you can check them later. Let's get through the ones we have here," he said, grabbing the package Bones was holding, "that way, by the end, you'll have all the information for both options."

"That's fine for me," Booth said, and then asked Bones, "you're ok with it?"

"Fine." Bones answered in a slightly annoyed tone once again, which Booth couldn't understand why.

Collecting a couple of bags the boy began his diapers lecture, "the first thing you need to check when buying diapers, is the size." He said, pointing where the size was marked of each bag. "Each size or stage is classified according to the baby's weight and/or activities."

"But I don't know how much they weight. They've not even born yet, which one am I suppose to buy?" Bones said, placing her right hand on the top of her round belly.

The employee turned and after leaving the bags he was holding, made them follow him to a different part of the aisle and grabbed three small packages. "These are the brands with a Newborn Line." Pulling a sample diaper, he proceeded, "all of them are made with an hypoallergenic cotton-like fabric; this material allows the air to pass through, leaving the skin healthier, -it's less probable to cause a rash- and it's more hygienic.

"…rashes?..." Bones asked in a murmur, totally freaked out.

"Don't worry; in case that happen we have some wonderful products. We'll see them later." And so, he continued explaining everything about diapers: Velcro stripes, indicator marks, the benefits of chamomile, aloe and vitamin E, inner legs gathers, no leaks system, the differences between boys and girls diapers.

Then they moved to the next group of shelves where all kinds of lotions, shampoos, baby oil, wipes and soaps were.

"Lately, our top selling products are the ones from the Bed Time line," Reese said, pointing the light-soft blue and purple bottles and handed them a couple, "These are specially made to be used at night. They are made of natural flowers scent which helps the baby to relax, making easier to fall asleep." Now, he opened one bottle and offered them to smelt it.

Again, Bones asked, visible shocked, "To fall asleep? but that's the only thing babies do, sleep. How can they need help for that?"

The boy gave her a small smile and continued, "All of these products have a balanced pH, which is why they are very gentle with the baby skin, hypoallergenic, soft scented and also non toxic chemicals."

After learning how to use the bed time products: the soap, shampoo, body lotion, oil and powder; they also bought a thermometer, the water temperature was an important issue on the whole bath and bed time routine; and some techniques on relaxing massage they moved to an open clear area at the back of the store where the cribs, strollers, car seats, play pens, high chairs and more furniture were.

The boy kept talking making comments and suggestions, while leading Booth and Bones among the cribs, strollers and beds, when he asked, "Are you sure you don't like to sign in for a Baby Table?

"Yes, I am. Thank you very much." Bones said the last part sarcastically.

"I had to ask again," The employee said, and turned now to talk to Booth. "These are all the car seats we have. Do you have something in mind or would you like to see each one's specifications?"

Now, Booth talked while Bones was squinting at every chair, table, car seat or crib around her. "I heard there is a new multi-function chair, do you have it?

"Absolutely, it's right over here," the teenager walked a few steps to reach it. "It's four functions in one –a cradle, high chair, car seat and stroller- let me show you." And so, he started to demonstrate the offered options.

Booth was amazed, it was better than what he had thought, "I like it. What do you think, honey?"

"I… it's just that I'd planned to buy a twin stroller…" Bones confessed.

Reese offered his opinion, "To be honest with you sir. I think it'll be better to buy everything separately. I've heard some comments on how uncomfortable this chair can be. I mean, think about it, every time you need to use it as a car seat, you have to make sure that it has been properly buckle and tight in the car; that's at least five minutes per chair. And later on, you have to remove it and turn it into a stroller or a cradle, that is twice the time you use when using a regular stroller. I personally recommend you everything split, but that's your call."

"I agree with him, Booth." Bones added more optimistic.

"If that's what you want…" Booth wasn't really convinced about it.

Then, Bones realized something else and pointed it out, "Are we going to have car seats on both cars? Or just in mine?

Booth saw Bones' point, and right away figured a solution, "It's ok. I got it all figured, we'll have two of these four-in-one," he said, instructing the boy named Reese, "for my car and two sets of everything else for yours and the house."

"That sounds perfect for me." Bones was totally in agreement.

Rubbing his hands together Booth said, "Ok, now that everything's settle, we're ready to go," then turn to face the employee and added, "thank you so much for your help Reese."

"You're welcome, sir. It's been a pleasure. That'll be everything you're going to buy?" the boy said referring to all the stuff on their trolleys and the boxes he had just brought.

"Yes, that's it." Booth said giving a quick glance to the piles of clothes, diapers, lotions, baby powder, wipes, toys, blankets and more.

"Ok, then. Follow me. I'll lead you to the cashier." He said placing the boxes in one trolley and starts to push them.

Booth, rounding Bones by the waist, started to follow the boy.

Bones was walking a little absently, trying to remember everything she had planned to buy, because she was having the strange feeling of missing something.

"Booth, we're missing something… something important," Bones spoke in an urgent whisper.

Booth tried to convince her, "We have everything we need, Honey."

"Could you wait a minute, please?" Bones said, calling the employee.

"Yes ma'am. Is there something else I can do for you?"

Tempe stopped midway the main hallway, and moved her eyes through every aisle, certain that she had missed something. After a few seconds, she found it. They missed one of the most important things, it was right after the diapers aisle; she couldn't believe why or how she missed it before.

"I told you we were missing something," she said, now walking to the skipped area.

"What? What is it?" Booth asked clueless.

The boy, realizing where she was heading, followed her, "oh yes, she is right."

The three of them crossed the store, and at the moment she arrived and saw all the cans and bottles thought, _"Why I didn't see this coming?"_

They spent another half hour, learning about bottles, nipples and formulas. By the end Bones was feeling more confused and overwhelmed about everything.

They paid for everything and after that, Booth took Bones to their favorite diner. Once they were in the car, she thanked her husband with a kiss for being with her that day.

That night Bones went to bed thinking about everything she saw, learned and bought for her babies. It was when she fully realized how soon her life was about to change. She understood what was going to be to have two babies in their house and lives, and immediately a wave of happiness and fear fully hit her. She just caressed her belly and rounded with both arms until she finally felt asleep.

* * *

Hello my wonderful reader! thank you so much for reading so far, I really hope you enjoyed the chapter as much as I did. Once again excuse any mistake but hopefully you still got the idea.

Honestly, reviews means a lot to me, well actually to every writer, so I'll be greatfull to know what you think or that you were here, hahaha.

Greetings from Guadalajara Mexico!


	5. Chapter 5

**Five****: Meetings.**

A couple of weeks were gone and Booth had finally scheduled a visit to Daniel Wood's family. The lab had been very hectic identifying bodies from a massive accident. Every member of the Jeffersonian were far beyond busy, hence the Almarel case was left behind on everybody's mind, until Booth entered in Bones´ office.

"Have I ever mentioned how beautiful you are?" Booth asked from the doorway, with a cocky smile to attract her attention.

Brennan moved her eyes from some notes and smiled back at him warmly "mmm... let me see…" and after a few seconds she started to laugh.

"Just what I guessed," Booth walked and gave her a small kiss on the lips, cutting her laugh, and said, "you do look gorgeous."

"Thank you," she thanked him sheepishly, "mmm, but what are you doing here? Something bad happened? Is everything ok?"

"Take it easy Doctor," Booth was amused with those kinds of reactions "I'm here to take you with me…" a mischievous grin crossed his face, "you do remember we have a visit with certain family named Wood today, right?"

"Oh yes, you're right. I'm sorry, it's just that we've been through a lot of things around here lately. Give me five minutes and I'll be ready," she stood up and started collecting things.

"ok, in the meantime I'll go and check what your squints are doing. I might be able to solve one of their cases," and so he left the office.

"Hey Angela, how are you and the baby?" Booth approached Angela, he had been looking forward to talk to her. "Hey guys!" waved at Hodgins, Zack and some other members, and turned back at Angela.

"Hi Agent Booth!" a group answered at unison.

"Hey, Booth, we're fine thank you very much, what about you?" Angela question back.

"Fine too, you know, just doing things here and there, thank you," Booth glanced toward Brennan's office to check if she was still in there, then asked, "How is Tempe managing everything here? What do you think? Was it time for her to come back?"

"I think she's doing fine, she is a very strong woman, but I still suggest we should wait and see what happen when those two teenagers show up."

"Yes, we must wait and be there for her, actually we're on our way to visit the boy's family, so wish us luck…" it was when they heard Brennan approaching them.

"Ok, I'm ready," Brennan said noticing the sudden silence and guilty looks on their eyes, "What is it?" she asked suspiciously.

"Nothing, just talking about babies," Angela answered quickly "so, I heard you two are leaving to interview the Wood family, right?" changing the subject.

"mmm...yes," Brennan hesitated a little but decided to leave it like that.

"I wish you luck," and hugging Bones added, "Take care of yourself, sweetie. Well, I must keep going and mind my own business; bye"

"Thank you Angela, see you later," Bones thank her and start leaving the lab.

"bye Angela," Booth farewell and followed Bones.

While they were in the car and after being in silence for about half the way, Brennan began questioning Booth, speaking out her thoughts.

"Booth, are you two planning a baby shower? Because if you do, you know what I think on that matter."

"What? Is that what you thin…?" but decided, after a second though, to start teasing her, "mmm… well… I think you caught us…"

An annoyed frown crossed Bones' face, "Seeley Booth what did I tell you?"

"It's a great idea, think about it and…"

"But…"

"You can spend a wonderful time with …"

"With a bunch of noisy women giving advises, telling stories about their labors AND touching my belly all the time," Bones just kept interrupting and cutting his sentences.

"That's not true… Angela is going to be there too." Booth added with a smile.

That didn't erase the annoyance frown on Brennan's face, she only rolled her eyes and stare out the window helplessly. They were passing next to a park where a lady was pushing a stroller with her baby seated in the edge waving his little arms happily, then some kids were playing and finally they passed a school, it was when she spoke again.

"Aren't you worry about this?" Brennan asked, still staring something distant.

"About what?" Booth asked clueless

"Being parents and everything that it comes with it: waking up in the middle of the night, buying the best brand or type of diapers and formula, picking up names, clothes, then doctor appointments, going to the park, college…, I mean, that boy in the store knows even more about babies than me."

"Hun, that's his job, he must knows about what he's selling and yes I'm a little worry, but must of all I'm very happy and looking forward to live all those experiences," sensing her fears he continued, "besides I've already been through it and you'll do wonderfully. I'll be right next to you all the time, we'll go one step at a time and everything will be fine, I promise," Booth said staring at her tenderly.

"Thank you." Brennan kissed him and rubbed his hand.

"Speaking of names, have you thought about the ones I suggested or do you already have decided them?" Booth brought up the subject again. For some reason, Bones had been delaying it. "Clock's ticking. They'll be here soon and I'll like to start calling them by their names", he said placing his right hand in her belly.

Bones sighed and placed her right hand over his "I know…it's just that… it's so much responsibility to name a human being." She turned to face him, "The name defines the person, the way he or she will interact with the people and even the fails and/or success in life." She looked worried.

"I think you've been talking too much with Sweets and Angela," Booth said holding his laugh, "I guess that's half right, it also depends on different matters. It surprises me that you, more than anybody else, knows that. Allow me to remind you about the nature and nurture theory, I even find it interesting."

"That is why." Brennan added.

"Come on Bones, we are going to be good parents. I mean, look at yourself, you're very intelligent, brave, beautiful and full of love. And me, well… I'm also good-looking, bright, easygoing… Both of us are responsible, hard working and committed people who try to find the balance between good and bad. We'll be good role models to our children." He finished with a sufficient smile.

"I love you so much." She said and tightened her grip around his hand a bit more and kissed him again.

They drove for another half hour until they reached a Victorian house on the suburbs, and parked outside.

"It looks like a nice home," Booth commented before stepping out of the car.

"Don't jump into early conclusions," Brennan reminded him.

"I know that but it's true, look at it, and this neighborhood..." Bones stared at him raising her eyebrows "right… this is the kind of people who keeps the darkest secrets," he had already got over his stage of rejection towards well-off people, but comes back once in a while.

Both walked side by side and crossed a lawn that clearly had been meticulously cut. They reached the door and rang, after a couple of minutes a woman answered.

" Mrs. Georgina Wood?" Booth asked.

"Yes, I am." the lady nodded.

"Good morning ma'am, FBI," he said, holding his badge "I'm special agent Seeley Booth and this is Dr. Temperance Brennan from the Jeffersonian."

The woman's grip tightened on the door's edge and her voice trembled when he mention the word FBI, "what can I do for you?".

"We're here to talk about your son, would you mind if we enter?" Booth said with a firm and polite tone.

It was when she noticed Brennan's state "Oh, I'm sorry, please come in. My God, is he ok?" she asked, closing the door and then walking them to the solarium.

Mrs. Wood offered them some drinks once they were seated around a small table, which Bones took right away. It was a very bright room, there were plants hanging by the ceiling, big flowerpots, a crystal table and the chairs around it with colorful pillows.

Georgina sat in front of them and asked again "Did you find my son?"

"Sorry ma'am we haven't, but he was involved in one of our cases, his DNA was found in a crime scene which is the reason why Dr. Brennan and I are looking for him now".

"Oh my God, oh my God, please tell me he is all right," now she was visible upset.

"We don't know that for sure…" Bones added crudely but a harsh stare from Booth made her stop.

"As far as we can tell, the evidence found wasn't of life compromising, don't worry. We still need to check his relation with the victim. He is after all, a suspect of murder" Booth completed the information, "a restraining order came up during the investigation, we need to know what happened then, because the person he was restricted to it's also involve in the case".

"to Isobel, yes I remember," Mrs. Wood was definitely freighted, but nodded anyway and started to talk.

"Mmm… where should I begin?..." there was hesitation on her voice, it was true, she was having a difficult time, "I think we must go back three years ago, it was the time when my son knew that girl, Isobel Richards; at first I had my doubts like any mother would, she was a foster-homed girl,"

That comment upset Bones, but hid her emotions to led the woman go on with the story.

"everybody knows those kids usually have many problems apart from being troublemakers, so I recommended, well mostly forbade my son to be friend with her, but I should have known better, he is a teenager and like any other, did exactly the opposite. They became very good friends".

The woman stood up from her seat, walked towards a table and grabbed a frame, went back to where Bones and Booth were and hand them a picture.

Both of them stare at the picture, it was of Daniel and Isobel in a hug, smiling widely, apparently it had been taken on the boy's birthday party.

"Time went by and they started spending lots of time together, particularly here at our house. It was like she was avoiding going back to her place, but it didn't matter to any of us, she is such a nice girl, very intelligent, beautiful, well mannered, lovely girl," she said dreamingly, "everybody who knew them could have foreseen what was going to happen, it was just a matter of time…" paused a little and continued, "… finally one day when the kids arrived from school one of my daughters crossed the hall shouting full of joy that they were boyfriend and girlfriend officially."

"And when did this happen?" Booth interrupted not wanting to lose the track in the conversation.

"About a year later after they met. Everything was going wonderfully; I don't know what went wrong. On weekdays it was always the same routine, they arrived from school, rest a little, then we gather to eat and after that they did their homework, and finally Daniel walked Isobel to her house at 9."

"But kids who are in the system aren't allowed to have those kinds of relationships," it was Bones who interrupt this time.

"And we knew it, my husband and I tried to stopped it but… it was just useless, you should have seen them," Georgina stopped and took a deep breath, "one day I saw them arguing but I couldn't hear anything, after that discussion, their relationship changed. Daniel became very protective with her. A couple of weeks later Mr. Almarel came here and yelled at my husband and me to keep our son away from Isobel. Once again we tried but… well you know how teenagers are… so it was when Mr. Almarel asked for a restriction order."

"The following days to the restriction were very hard for them, to stay apart from each other… my son spent many sleepless nights. All he kept saying was that nothing will keep them apart and that he wasn't going to let Mr. Almarel get away with his own. At the end I guess they found the way to stay together, I mean… they are young, both of them very intelligent, it was obvious they'll get over the hedge sooner or later." and once again she stopped and stared at the picture for a moment, now with teary eyes.

"we knew right away they were seeing each other when Daniel start arriving late from school and leaving earlier. No one was certain about it, because nobody really saw them, so by the time when all these mess begun, we barely had track of him." a sudden breath, which sound more like a sob, cut her speech.

"One day, it was getting late and Daniel wasn't back home, I went to his bedroom and the sight shocked me, everything was upside down. After a quick check, I realize his bag pack, some clothes and all his savings were gone, it was when my youngest daughter told me what'd happened early that the day." this time a tear rolled down her face.

Booth and Brennan stared at each other and remained in silence, waiting for the end of the story.

"that afternoon, Around five, Nadia and Violet were watching tv in the living room when Daniel stormed inside the house, crossed the hall and went upstairs straight to his bedroom. Violet followed him, when she entered to his bedroom, he was throwing things all over the place and packing some stuff, therefore she asked him what was going on, if something wrong was happening, Daniel only sent her a quick glance and continued his packing…"

"_it's non of your business, go away and watch tv, leave me alone." Daniel yelled at his little sister._

"_Danny what's wrong? I can tell you're not ok, you just don't pack half of your stuff or rush inside a house that way, just for nothing, please tell me…" using her sweet voice Violet tried to reason with her brother._

"_You__ won't understand, you're too young, now please leave me, I don't have enough time."_ _and it was when he pulled a bunch of money and put it on his wallet._

"_why would you need that much money? I'm going to call mom…"_

"_N__o, please, don't call her. Ok I'm going to tell you. But you must promise not to tell a word to anybody, ok? I need to go away for a while, I can't tell you exactly the reason or where I'm going, it's just something that I have to do…"_

"_H__ow long?"_

"_I have no idea, until everything settles down."_

"_a week?"_

"_I don't think so…"_

"_two weeks?"_

"_I'm sorry V, I highly doubt it."_

"_No Daniel, don't go, please don't leave me, who's going to watch over me or play with me? Nadia can be very hiatus sometimes, she always wins on every game or spent her time doing homework or talking on the phone…"_

"_there is a very good reason for what I'm doing, one day I'm going to tell it to you and hopefully you'll understand, but right now I really need to go, but I promise you, I'll call next week to let you know I'm fine and again the week after that until we're settle."_

"_but…"she realize something in his speech "what do you mean with "we"?_

"_I'll call you soon ok…"_ _he said, collecting his back and exiting the room in a hurry._

"_Daniel…" Violet called him one last time, watching him leave, helplessly._

"After that, I called Martha to ask Isobel if she knew something about Daniel…"

"_Hey Martha, excuse me for bothering you this late, but my son's missing, have you or Isobel seen him or is he by any chance in your house?" a very disturbed Georgina was calling almost at midnight._

"_Oh, hello Georgia good evening, I'm really sorry to hear that your son's missing, but I'm afraid to tell you that I'm in the same situation; Johan and Isobel seem to be missing too." Martha was even more shock than the person on the other end of the phone, "and I'm so scared, Georgia, you should see my house, it's a mess."_

"_Would__ you mind if I go to your house? I'll be there in ten minutes; we might find or figure out something."_

"Martha told me everything she knew, I even offer myself to help her clean up the mess of her house."

"_Daniel's room is in the same state of mess." Georgina commented seeing the Almarel's living room, a small center table, lamps and many other things were laying in the floor, some of them broken._

"_Good Lord; do you think something bad happened?" Martha hesitated not daring to ask._

"_I__'m not sure but these…" a_ _sudden gasp stopped her sentence._

"_W__hat is it?"_

"_Holly mother of God! Martha is that blood?" she said pointing at one of the living room walls and a spot in the carpet._

"I realize at the very moment I step into the Almarel's house that something was terribly wrong, but when I notice the blood on the walls and carpets I knew it was worst than what I had thought. We called the police but they didn't really help us much though, actually, nobody gave us answers, we were left behind until today, it's a shame Martha is not here anymore." it was clear she'd spent many taught times those past months.

"we were already aware about Mrs. Almarel but we're still sorry to heard it." Bones spoke with a knot on her throat.

"So, the only thing I've found out was that Isobel and Johan were missing too, even though Martha told me everything she knew, I wasn't able to connect the events. All I know is that a family was torn apart and that my son left and hadn't come back home" now tears were rolling down freely.

"Daniel did call us a week later indeed, but didn't say much, well he didn't say anything that might have help us to find him. He kept calling the next couple of months, just to let us know that he was fine, nothing else, but these past months it has been like if he disappeared along with three very nice people."

A couple of tears rolled down from Brennan's eyes, Booth noticing this hand her a tissue, and proceed to clarify some things.

"Is there any chance that Daniel and Isobel could be together?"

"I don't thing so… Johan is very attached to Isobel, he rarely left her alone and he can hardly stand my son so there's no way those kids are together."

"Ma'am, I'm afraid to tell you that the reason for our visit is Mr. Almarel… his body was found in a cliff near North Creek." Booth said in a low voice.

"Oh my God," one of her hands covered her mouth in shocked, "it can't be…wait a minute, you think my son had something to do with it, right? Let me assure you he is not capable of doing something like that, he would never hurt or cause harm in any way to nobody or anything."

"we're not suggesting anything, ma'am," Booth cut her, in an useless attempt to calm her, "as we already mention, his DNA was found on the evidence..."

"we must find all the left pieces before concluding anything, which is why we need your help too." Brennan finished the sentence.

"The only thing on my mind right at this moment is, what if he's another victim here? Many horrible situations are rushing through my head. Please promise me you will find him, promise me that he is alive and not injured and that everything will be ok." a very anguished Georgina said on tears.

"We will find him, but we can't promise anything else." Booth couldn't say anything but the truth.

"We don't know exactly what happened, but we're going to answer every single question it comes up about it." Bones tried to reassured the now crying lady.

"Now I need to know the names and addresses of your relatives, friends or anybody to whom your son could have gone or had any contact and places he'd visited." Now taking his part as an FBI agent, Booth started to look for possible means to get extra information.

"It'll be good to know his mid and long term plans. Do you have a computer in the house?" Bones asked Georgina.

"We have four, one for each one of my kids and another for me and my husband. It's in his bedroom, but he never used the others, not even my laptop."

"We also need to take his computer back to the Jeffersonian; it might have something that lead us to him." Brennan pointed.

"It's ok. I just hope that'll help you to find him soon." a very concerned Georgina told them.

"We'll keep in touch as much as possible Mrs. Wood," Bones said while tapping lightly the worried mother's arm.

"I don't think it's going to be necessary, but it'll be good to be prepare to testify; also your daughter," Booth suggested her and took another sight of the house. Then after packing everything they could possible need, thank her and left the Victorian house, "Have a good day ma'am and thank you for your time."

Once inside the car Booth made another comment about well-off people and how "popular" they can be, referring to the long list of friends.

"What will you do if you were just a teenager running away, trying to stay undercover?" Bones was talking more to herself.

"If they are together, I'm sure they'll avoid going to a place where people can easily identify them," Booth answered distractedly.

"It's true, but sooner or later they are going to need help. A person can't live of just thin air, not to mention that they are very young. I highly doubt they were able to manage by themselves so far, we must keep waiting." Booth agreed with her and exposed his point.

"As you said Bones, they're young. There are no limits for the imagination; I'm sure they definitely figured something up by now. But still, for the same reason of being young, they are most likely going to make mistakes, you'll see."

Everything was still the same when Booth and Bones arrived back at the Jeffersonian; except for the part that Angela and Hodgins were setting their stuff, ready to leave.

"You're leaving so soon? It's only three o'clock. You usually leave the lab around five and sometimes even after eight," Bones asked Angela confused, "it's something wrong?"

"I have my sonogram appointment today; remember I mentioned it two days ago…"

"Oh yes, you're going to find out the sex today right? Well, good luck," Bones hugged her as tightly as their prominent bellies allowed them.

"Thank you, see you guys tomorrow," Angela wave at everybody then looked at Zack and add, "Zack, say hi to Leslie for me please and enjoy your date."

"Good luck man," Booth shacked Hodgins hand.

"Thank you Booth," Hodgins returned the handshake and then hold Angela by the waist rounding her with his arms.

Two days later the phone rang, a highway patrol recognized Isobel and Daniel working in a small diner, in a small town in Galax.

Earlier in the day a couple of police troupers were driving through a not very frequent road, when they reach a small diner and decided to stop by.

"I must keep an eye on what I eat, every four hours my body needs to get some food. It's what the doctor instructed me, you know, to keep my levels," the trouper said to his fellow, trying to convince him to make the stop.

"Yeah right Ernie, whatever you said, it doesn't matter, I do want to eat something too, anyway."

They entered and sat on a table, while checking on the menu, a girl approached.

"Good morning officials, what would you like to order ?" she greeted them.

"Good morning…"one of them narrowed his eyes to read the girl's name " …Olive; I'll have two scramble eggs with bacon and orange juice, please".

"And for me a strawberry waffle with a glass of milk please" Ernie said, winking at her.

"That'll be everything?" the girl question in a sweet tone and at the same time respectfully.

"yes, thank you." Said Charlie and handed her back the menu.

"so far, yes" Ernie smiled widely.

"It'll be ready in a moment." Olive headed towards the kitchen and whispered something to a boy working in there.

"You are unbelievable Ernie," Charlie gave his partner a hard stare.

"it's just an old habit Charlie, besides there is nothing wrong with it, look at her she is a very pretty girl, it's more like a compliment."

Ten minutes later their meals were served and both men were chatting, but one of them, kept giving quick glances to the girl named Olive.

"Ernie, come on, what is wrong with you?"

"There is something about that girl Charlie, it's like if I had seen her before, don't you feel the same?"

Charlie turned slightly to have a clearer view; the girl was talking again with the same boy.

After a couple of glances, he started to feel the same way. There was definitely something about those two teenagers, "you know Ernie, I think you're right this time, wait here, I'll be back in a minute, I'll check if there is anything related to them".

A couple of minutes later the police man came back, "Well, I found something about two teenagers, their descriptions match to them. I think we should take them, at least just to check and be sure".

"Excuse me… Olive," Ernie called the girl.

The waiter stood next to them, "how can I help you?"

"we would like to have a word with you and your friend," he said pointing at one of the boys in the kitchen.

"it's everything ok?" she was taken aback.

"just something that needs to be cleared," he said calmly.

The girl was visibly nervous, stood still a little, hesitating, not sure about what to do exactly. She had expected that moment, she knew it was just a matter of time for them to be found, so she just gave him a small fake smile and turned around to call the guy to whom she had been talking before.

Both cops followed her; when both teenagers were together, the group left the diner. Once outside, they start making some routine questions. The boy, who said his name was Mark, was acting in a defensive way, and their answers weren't completely convincing and along with his behavior made them suspect even more. It was decided, they were going to take them to the police station.

"Well, I think you're coming with us," official Charlie finally declared.

Mark tried as much as he could to avoid it, "But… sir, please, is it really necessary? We have work to do…, we can't just leave…"

"it won't take much, it's part of routine," now official Ernie assured them.

Despite their claims and tries to convince the officers, the car left the place with the four of them inside heading towards the police station.

An hour later, both teenagers were in a small, claustrophobic room, seated in cold chairs, alone. They had been answering questions from two different officials and a lieutenant. As minutes kept going by, their worries and fears were increasing even more.

The boy turned and placed his hand over hers; both of them looked at each other. There was a sparkling tear in one of the girl's eyes, and their hands entwined firmly.

Finally the tear rolled down and breaking the silence the girl said in a whisper, "Thank you… for helping me and be there for me". Then, she let go of his hand and raised both arms around the boy's neck in a hug, hiding her face on his chest.

"I won't let anything bad happen to you. I'm going to be at your side all the time, it's the promise I made you, and I'm still keeping my word." saying this, he round her with his arms in a protective hug.

Their hug was interrupted by the sound of the door opening, this time Lieutenant Ford was carrying some folders, "Well kids, I've talk with Sgt. Morrison, is there something else you'd like to tell me before his arrival?"

"No, we don't have anything to tell you." Mark responded with a stern look.

"Guys you got to understand. I can't help you unless you help here a little, for example, your real names, that'll be a start. There are no records of Mark Graham or Olive Andrews." Ltd. Ford covered his forehead pressing his temples in an attempt to relax and avoid a headache. The door opened again and another man entered.

"Good morning Lieutenant Ford, young man, miss…"Sergeant Morrison greeted and sat in front of them.

Later, after being subject of more interrogation, both teenagers were left alone in the room once again. This time their rights had been told, their true identities came out to light, and they were waiting for the FBI to arrive. Everything was over.

* * *

Hello again! Hope you're enjoying the story so far. I really want to know what you guys think... so do not hesitated to type me a nice review, which by the way I really love and give a reason to keep writing.

This story is dedicated to my family and my lovely reviewers!

Greetings from Guadalajara Mexico!


	6. Chapter 6

**Six****: Returns. **

Camille Saroyan never imagined how fast the world can turn in her absence and she was about to find it out, just a few minutes after her return from holydays.

"Good morning everybody," Cam greeted loudly, crossing the lab's gate, "it's great to be back. If I had known it was going to be so beautiful and peaceful I wouldn't have taken that much time to do that trip," now talking directly to Zack and his girlfriend Desireé, "You two must visit Palau; it's an amazing experience, unforgettable." Then she stopped and turned to look everything and everybody around and she asked, "so how is everybody doing over here?... Where's everybody by the way? Dr. Brennan hadn't gone on maternity leave yet, right? Because I thought I was supposed to come back a week before her leaving."

"Good morning, Dr. Saroyan. Welcome back," Zack and Desireé welcomed Cam.

"A lot of things had happened. I think the rest of the team should be here in any minute, and you're right, Dr. Brennan leaves until next week. She's already on her office by the way." Zack spoke in the same fast way as Cam.

"I should be going now. I don't want to be late." Zack's girlfriend excused herself. "It's good to see you back Dr. Saroyan," stepping closer and grabbing Zack's hand, Desireé added, "So, we'll meet at 7 for dinner?"

"Yes. See you later," Zack farewell the girl hesitating and a little apprehensively; a very uncomfortable situation for him.

Cam stared the scene amused. Once it was just the two of them, she cleared her throat to attract Zack's attention again. "When the others arrive, let them know that I called for a meeting in an hour, I'll be in my office." But before going to her office, she stopped by another office to see Brennan's first.

"All right Dr Saroyan." Zack was left alone with his notes and thinking of that

evening's dinner.

Bones was typing frantically when Cam knocked, "Hello there Dr. Brennan."

"Oh, hi Cam," Bones raised her eyes to greet her coworker, "welcome back," and motion herself to stand up to hug her, but Cam stopped her.

"It's ok, don't move," Cam said stepping in and walked to where Bones was "oh my God, look at you! You're so…." She said after they separate from the hug and taking a better look of Bones.

"I know… I'm huge," Brennan said and tried to cover her belly with her arms embarrassed.

"Not at all, you look just great. How far along you are?"

"Thirty five weeks," and unconsciously started rubbing small circles on the right side of her abdomen with her hand.

"So, are you ready to leave?

"To be honest… not really. We have so many things around here and…"

"They'll never end. You must seize this time, because you're not going to be able to relax or have some time for yourself after the babies' arrival."

"I'm well aware of that, but there's this case…"

"It's ok, I'm here and I'll handle everything from now on. So I'll see you in my office in one hour. I called for a meeting." She left no room for Bones to comply. "I must go now. I have lots of stuff to catch up before the meeting." And right before she turned to leave, placed her hands on Bones' belly and said, "Bye babies, it's great to see you again, and remember to be nice to your mommy."

Bones just smiled, Cam's odd behavior was still strange for her, but was in a sort of way used to it. It all began when Bones announced her pregnancy but more specifically, once she started showing a noticeable bump. She asked her if it was ok for her to feel it, Bones just couldn't say no. And since that day it turned into a small routine, at the beginning and end of the day, talking to the babies and touching her pregnant belly. Sometimes it was really amusing for Brennan to hear the things she said, or simply just watching her bend to be leveled with her abdomen.

Hodgins and Angela arrived ten minutes later, and greeted Zack and the rest of the crew. Hodgins was a little behind Angela waving and greeting at everybody very cheerfully.

"Hey Zack," Angela messed his hair in a motherly way, "how are you today?"

"Good morning Angela. I'm busy with all these cases and a bit nervous of having dinner with Desireé tonight, thank you for asking." Zack answered with just one breath.

Angela laughed at his honesty and spontaneous answer.

"What's wrong with Hodgins? It's still about the baby?" staring at Hodgins questioned about his over enthusiastic behavior.

"Ever since we found out we're having a boy; he's been acting way too happily…" Angela smiled and stared at her husband lovingly.

"Good morning Zack! You look great today man," Hodgins was grinning, almost beaming.

Zack greeted back feeling once again uncomfortable, "Good morning Hodgins, it's good to see you too."

Hodgins reached Angela and round her with his arms and said, "Isn't she the most beautiful and wonderful woman in the world?" he asked poor Zack, and kissed Angela, tightening the hug.

"Umm… yes…" Zack answered, wanting to get out of the awkward situation.

"Hodgins quit it out, leave him alone," Angela, seeing Zack's torment, intervened. "Cam returns today right?" she asked to help Zack change the subject.

"Yes. She's already in her office and scheduled a meeting at nine." Zack thanked Angela with his eyes.

"Okie dokie then. Let's get to our business, cuz' she's going to want to catch up on everything she missed during her absence." Angela added to give a complete exit to the matter.

Cam started the meeting with a very warm welcoming; then the first thing on the agenda was to move the meeting to the resting area, so it'll be more comfy and can have breakfast all together. After her recent holidays to a very peaceful place, she had attached to a stress-free philosophy, and planned on sharing it with the rest of her team. So after breakfast, they stayed gathered around the table talking about their lives and other banalities.

Cam started going through folders and flipping pages, Bones wasn't really looking forward to talk about the Almarel case with her just yet.

"Well, the last case I worked with was the one about the body found in the zoo; what was the real story?"

Zack hurried and gave the info, "it turned out to be the night keeper. While doing his round, saw something on the wolves' cage, step in to check it and one of them attacked him and hid him. It was until the cage was emptied to deep cleansing that they found the body. They though he had just decided to leave his job, that's why nobody look for him."

"Great, another case solved." Cam continued wearing a wide and pleased smile and then grabbed The Almarel case folder and inquire about it. "What about this one," and read the tag, "…The Almarel case."

"Oh, we're still working on that one." Bones added quickly seeing the folder on Cam's hand.

"So…" Cam was puzzled, waiting for her to explain the case.

"We're in a standstill right now, so let's skip to the next one," once again Bones spoke before anybody could say anything.

Cam noticed her odd behavior but dismissed the thought, luckily for Bones, and focused on the massive car accident.

They were now talking about three victims of a bus involved in the accident when somebody interrupted them, it was Booth.

"Sorry I'm intruding," was the very first thing he said, "Hi Cam, welcome back. Guys, it's great to see you all again too." He greeted the rest, and walked to where his wife was seated, and standing behind her grabbed her shoulders and talked directly to Cam. "I need to take this lady with me. We found Wood and Richardson," somehow he assumed she knew what he was talking about.

"Who?" asked a clueless Cam, "which case are they from? We haven't talked about it yet, right?" she asked Angela who was next to Zack.

"No, we haven't," she answered and then looked at Brennan with a worried stare.

"Fine, we'll catch on that case later." Cam told mostly to the couple than to the rest of the group.

Bones stood up with difficulty helped by her husband, and both left the room.

"This is getting more difficult every day…" Bones said holding her back and rubbing her belly.

"What is it, honey?" Booth asked.

"Everything, walk, sitting and standing up, get in or out the car and even sleep," she had been having trouble to sleep mostly because of her back and sometimes suffocation, which according to the doctor was very common during the last part of pregnancy and the fact that she was caring twins, increased the pressure on the body.

"I'm sorry hun. I wish I could do something to help you or to ease it. It'll be just for a few more weeks and then it'll be all over.

"Yeah right…" Bones responded not quit sure about it, "so where are we going exactly?"

"Apparently, Wood and Richardson were located in a small town of Galax; they're on their way here now. We must interrogate them and confirm their true identities." Booth said while driving.

They drove for about 25 minutes, on which Booth could notice Bones increasing tension. So he started to talk about different things trying to clear her mind of the case. He was perfectly aware of what the founding of those kids meant for her and the whole case. He knew it was very distressing for her and was worried about it, she wasn't supposed to get involve or shouldn't get through that much stress due her high-risk condition.

"I promised not to tell a word to you about it. Parker prepared a surprise for you and the babies…" Booth turned to see her reaction.

"Really?... that's very sweet of him." Bones said feeling a warm wave of joy and tenderness towards the kid.

"But he asked me something and I couldn't help him…" Booth continued, glad that he managed to divert her current thoughts.

"What was it?" Bones was intrigued.

"He asked me the babies' names." Now her mind was definitely going to think on something else than the Almarel case or dead bodies at all.

"Oh…"

Booth decided to bring up the subject and not let her change it, "I've already though of some. But of course I'm up to any suggestion or what you have though."

Bones realized it was a good moment to speak her thoughts out of her mind, she'd already decide on one name too, "Well… I thought on naming the girl after my mother, if that's ok with you… and so far I don't have anything for the boy"

"That's fine for me. I would like the boy's name begin with a 'P'. I have a list of names that I like, but hadn't decided on any yet… what do you think if tonight, the two of us make a list and decide together the names so I can call Parker tomorrow and let him know the names?" Booth said, he was very happy with the achievement of picking at least one name and lowering Bones' tension a little.

"Done, we have a date." Bones said more cheerful.

When they arrived at their destination, Booth helped Bones out the car and offered her his arm. They entered the building and headed straight to one of the interrogation rooms. Luckily the suspects weren't there yet, so this gave Brennan enough time to settle, drink some water and find a comfortable chair.

Booth found her already seated on a coach in the corner of the room with the glass wall, the other side of the interrogation area. She was staring at the now empty seats, soon to be occupied by two teenagers, whom she considered to be innocents. She was thinking about this when Booth's voice reached her ears.

"Hey, you're already here Bones. I'd just received the DNA warrant. We must confirm their identities and match them with what you've collected before." He walked next to her, and reading her body language, sat at her side and grabbed her hand entwining it with his.

Bones turned and looked at their hands, and with a sigh responded, "As soon as we have them I'll send them back to the lab to be analyzed. I think we should do that first, that way we'll get the results within hours." She spoke not moving her eyes from their entwined hands.

"Tempe…" with his other hand Booth caressed her chin and pulled her to face him, he looked at her deeply and said, "Baby, I'm right here just for you. Always remember that. I love you." After this he kissed her tenderly.

Once they broke apart, Booth round her with one arm and she rest her head on his chest listening to his heartbeat and remain like that a few minutes, until Booth's cell phone went off to let him know of the teen's arrival.

"They're here…" Booth said pulling away the device.

"This is it…" Bones said releasing his hand. "I'm going to stay here if you're ok with it, unless you need me…" She added as she saw him stood up and headed the door.

"Don't worry, I can handle it. You stay here and make your own notes. Watch everything, you might find something by seeing from the distance. " Booth reassured her, and then left the room.

A couple of minutes later, Bones saw Booth and both teenagers entered the room and sat on the chairs at one side of the table. Both of them stared at Booth, the girl scared and the boy apprehensively; while Booth sat as well in front of them.

She knew her husband perfectly and noticed he was starting to 'read' them as soon as he saw them. She trusted that he was going to find anything they need to know.

* * *

Well, I hope you liked it. Thank you for keep reading so far. Let me know what you think, I really appreciate and thank you for leaving me reviews, they are my motivation. I dedicate this chap to my family and everybody who left reviews previously. I love you all.

PS: the more reviews I get; the more motivated to update I'll get…

Greetings from Guadalajara, Mexico!


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